Launch guide

Promoting in communities without getting banned

One founder posted his product across the biggest subreddits in his field and got banned, downvoted and called a scam. Then he changed one thing, and Reddit began sending him users every day. Here is that change, the actual rules of each community, and the words to use.

11 min readUpdated Nov 3, 2026

The short answer

You can promote your product in almost any community if you belong there first. Read the rules, take part before you post, say plainly that you built it, share something useful even to people who never click, and link only where links are welcome. Communities do not ban founders for having a product. They ban strangers who only arrive to sell.

Austin of Saner.AI told this story in April 2024. Dozens of heartfelt product posts and comments went up in a few hours across relevant subreddits. The result: bans from some of the biggest ones, a barrage of downvotes, and people branding him a scam. Then he switched to useful posts that mention the product only where allowed, answering people already looking for a solution, and asking about their problems rather than selling. He reports hundreds of thousands of views and a decent number of referrals from Reddit every day.

Same founder. Same product. Same website. Different behavior.

What each community's rules really say

Stop relying on what someone remembers about the rules. Here they are at the source, as they stood when we checked on 3 November 2026.

Promotion rules at the source
Community	What the rules say	What it means for you
Hacker News	"Please don't use HN primarily for promotion." Posting your own work part of the time is fine. "Don't solicit upvotes, comments, or submissions."	Be a reader first. Never share your link with friends and ask for votes.
Show HN	Something you made that people can try. Not landing pages, signup pages, blog posts or lists. "Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment."	Make it easy to try without signup, and stay to answer questions.
Reddit, as reported to New York's Attorney General for H2 2025	Rule 2 prohibits content manipulation. Each subreddit adds its own rules on top. Using another account to return to a community that banned you is ban evasion.	Read the sidebar of every subreddit, every time. Permission in one means nothing in the next.
Product Hunt	"You cannot ask people directly to upvote your product." Asking people to visit and comment is fine.	Say "I'd love your feedback on our launch", never "please upvote".
Discord	Effective 29 September 2025: "Do not send unsolicited bulk messages (or spam) to others." Each server also sets its own rules.	Find the server's promotion channel. Never mass-DM its members.

What works when you do it right

Promotion in communities works. These founders reported it in public:

Community promotion, as founders reported it
Where	What they did	What they reported
r/colorblind, 2024	Posted in the community of people with the problem	First 100 users, and more
Major subreddit, 2017	Wrote a passionate blog post that reached the front page	3,000 sign-ups in a few days
r/LanguageLearning, 2017	A single post to the topic's community	About 2% of free signups later paid
Hacker News comments, 2017	Commented on privacy posts about a privacy-focused notes app	An estimated 40 to 50 users
Indie Hackers, 2017	Posted on the forum, then was mentioned in the weekly newsletter	About 30 users, then about 150
Online communities, 2025	Answered beginners' niche-selection questions, with no ads	First 100 paying customers and about $7k
The customers' subreddit, 2025	A simple post asking for feedback on the idea, before building	100 users within two weeks of launching the MVP
Slack, 2026	Returned to a Slack community they had nearly forgotten	One of the more engaged places in the launch

The r/colorblind post is the model. It is not a founder community, and that is the point. Founders in r/startups want your attention for their own startup. People with the problem want your product.

Seven steps that keep you welcome

Choose communities by problem, not by founder crowd. List the three places your user complains. Add one place for feedback from other builders.
Read the rules and pinned posts, then search for how past promotional posts were received. Five minutes here saves your account.
Take part first. Answer questions you can truly answer for a week or two, with no link. It builds a history moderators can check, and you will learn how people there talk.
Ask moderators before posting anything promotional. It takes one short message, and a yes changes everything about how your post lands.
Lead with the story or the finding. Write what you learned, what failed and what numbers you saw. The post should be worth reading if your product did not exist.
Say you built it, first thing. "Disclosure: I built this." Hidden affiliation is what turns a good reply into a scandal.
Stay for the comments. Answer everything for the first few hours, take criticism in public, and ship one fix someone asked for. Then tell them.

Copy this · Message to moderators

Hi, I've been reading [community] for [time] and I built [product], which helps with [problem people discuss here].
I'd like to write up what I learned building it, with the numbers. It would mention the product once, marked as mine.
Is that OK here, and is there a better day or thread for it?

Copy this · Reply when someone asks for a tool

I had the same problem with [specific thing]. What worked for me was [useful answer they can use without any product].
Disclosure: I built [product] for this, so I'm biased. It's at [link] if it helps. Happy to answer anything about the approach either way.

Copy this · Show HN opening

Show HN: [Product], [what it does, in plain words]
I built this because [specific problem]. It works by [how it works, with real technical detail].
You can try it here without signing up: [link]. The part I'm least sure about is [honest weak spot]. I'd like to hear what you think.

Five fast ways to get banned

Posting the same text to many communities in one afternoon. This is exactly how the Saner.AI founder got into trouble. The TuBoost maker got banned for dropping links into Facebook groups.
Asking friends to vote or comment. Hacker News and Product Hunt both say not to.
Pretending to be a happy customer of your own product. If anyone finds out, you have burned that community for good.
Sending direct messages in volume. Admesio's founders reported on r/SaaS in April 2026 about 60 DMs, about 7 replies, 1 or 2 signups and a 3-day Reddit ban for sending too many. Discord's rules address bulk messages directly.
Coming back on a second account after a ban. Reddit calls this ban evasion and says it can lead to further action, up to site-wide bans.

If you do get banned

Message the moderators once. Say what you posted, admit it broke the rule, and ask what would be acceptable. Then respect the answer. There are other communities, and your reputation in this one is worth more than the post.

Build something moderators can't remove

Community posts sink, and a moderator can remove them. That is their right, and it is why no founder should build a whole launch on them. Every good post should send people to something that lasts.

Your own site, with the exact words people used in the thread.
A short email list on your site, so that people from the thread can hear from you next time.
Listings in places people go to look for products like yours. Those pages do not depend on one thread staying visible.

Frequently asked questions

Is self-promotion allowed on Reddit?

It depends on the subreddit. Reddit's site-wide rules prohibit content manipulation, and each community adds its own rules. Read the sidebar and pinned posts, and ask the moderators when in doubt.

How do I promote on Reddit without getting banned?

Take part before you post, ask moderators first, write something useful even without your product, disclose that you built it, and do not repeat a post across communities. The Saner.AI founder's account from April 2024 shows both the wrong way and the right way.

Can I post my own product on Hacker News?

Yes, part of the time. Use Show HN for something people can try, stay to answer comments, and never ask anyone to vote. The guidelines ask you not to use the site primarily for promotion.

Which communities should I use if my users aren't founders?

Go where your users talk about the problem, even if the community has nothing to do with software. One founder got the first 100 users from r/colorblind. Founder communities are good for feedback, but they are rarely where your customers are.

Is it OK to send direct messages to community members?

One-to-one messages to someone who asked about the problem can work well if the community allows it. Ask about their problem first, and do not pitch. Never send bulk messages: Discord's rules prohibit them, and most communities will remove you for it.

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