Reddit self-promotion: the rules that decide if your post lives

Reddit allows self-promotion. What it punishes is undisclosed self-promotion from accounts that do nothing else. The difference between the two is a set of habits you can adopt in an afternoon.

The written rules

Each subreddit publishes its own. Common patterns across business subreddits:

• Promo days. Many subs confine product posts to a weekly thread. Posting outside it is an automatic removal, inside it is welcomed.
• Karma and age floors. AutoModerator removes posts from accounts below a threshold before a human ever sees them. If your post vanishes instantly, this is usually why.
• Link rules. Some subs allow discussing your product but not linking it. Respecting that exact line is what moderators notice.

The unwritten rules

1. Disclose, always. I built this converts a promo into a contribution. Communities consistently treat disclosed builders better than suspected shills and moderators extend far more patience to accounts that say what they are.
2. Hold a 9:1 ratio. Nine comments that help with no agenda for every one that mentions your product. This is also roughly what reddit's own spam guidance describes.
3. Be useful in the same thread you promote in. A comment that answers the question fully and mentions your tool in one clause survives. A comment that is only the tool does not.
4. Never argue a removal in public. Message the moderators, accept the answer. Accounts that fight removals collect bans.

Where this fits

Self-promotion rules are the guardrails. The engine is picking threads that rank and placing comments where they get read, covered in the reddit marketing strategy guide.