---
name: reddit_presence
description: "Builds an account's Reddit presence without getting banned: subreddit norms and karma gates, the value-first posting ratio, AMA mechanics and scheduling, moderator outreach, and shadowban detection. Triggers when planning Reddit posts, running an AMA, or doing community outreach on Reddit."
---

## Purpose

Reddit removes promotional-looking activity fast and shadowbans quietly, so the safe path is slow and deliberate: learn each community's rules, build trust before any self-promotion, post in formats that lead with value, run AMAs with Reddit's built-in tooling, and verify every post stayed visible.

## Workflow

1. **Map the communities.** Pick 2-3 subreddits where your audience already is. For each, read the sidebar and pinned rules thread fresh this run: karma and age minimums, self-promotion policy, format rules (flair, promo days, where links may go), and ban-on-sight policies. Note anything ambiguous for a modmail check.
2. **Build history before promotion.** Roughly 9 of every 10 contributions should have nothing to do with your project. Comment first: answer real questions, share useful detail, be a normal member. Karma and age gates are separate checks, so a young high-karma account still fails an age gate.
3. **Draft value-first.** Explanation first, link second. A bare link with "check out my app" gets removed almost everywhere. Disclose affiliation plainly: "I built this, so I am biased." List one real limitation; the honesty converts better than a feature list.
4. **Gate before posting.** Run `bin/reddit_presence_check.py` (or the checklist in `references/pre-post-checklist.md`) against the draft. NO-GO means fix or skip, never "post anyway."
5. **Verify after posting.** Wait a few hours, then view the post logged out or in a fresh private window. If it is not visible, treat the account as flagged: pause posting, do not retry the same link, investigate.
6. **AMAs.** Plan with `references/ama-runbook.md`: schedule ahead, bring proof, answer widely, close with a note.
7. **Moderators.** Rule questions, approvals, and appeals go to modmail (`references/modmail-templates.md`). Never argue with mods in a public thread.

## Output Contract

Given a Reddit goal (launch post, question thread, AMA), produce:

- Target subreddits, each with current rules noted and the date checked.
- A readiness verdict per sub: GO / BUILD MORE HISTORY / NO-GO.
- A draft post or AMA plan that passes the pre-post checklist.
- A follow-up plan: visibility-check timing, reply duty window, what to do if removed.

## Operating Rules

1. **Ratio:** keep roughly 90% of contributions non-promotional. Reddit's sitewide guideline is about 9:1; many subreddits enforce it strictly in their own rules, and some ban self-promotion outright.
2. **Same link, once:** never post the same link twice within 24 hours. That is the cleanest path to a shadowban.
3. **No alt accounts:** never use alternate accounts to upvote or seed engagement. Permanent ban, no recovery. Multiple real accounts doing separate genuine things is allowed; using them to manipulate votes or evade a ban is not.
4. **Disclose:** always say it is yours when your own work comes up. Communities forgive bias; they never forgive hiding it.
5. **Leave losses up:** never delete downvoted content. Deleting reads as worse to both the community and the filters.
6. **One at a time:** do not blast the same content across multiple subreddits. Write each post for its community.
7. **Live rules only:** every claim about a subreddit's rules must come from that subreddit's sidebar/rules, checked this run. Subs change rules without notice, and "it was allowed last month" is not a defense.
8. **Gates are guesses:** karma and age minimums are per-subreddit and unpublished. Use observed ranges for planning only (small subs roughly 50-200 karma, large ones 500-2,000+), never state them as fact.
9. **AMAs need proof:** identity proof in the post itself, real time answering questions, promotion last or not at all.
10. **Automation limits:** automated voting is a permanent ban. Scripted posting stays within Reddit's published API rate limits (100 queries/minute with OAuth; non-OAuth blocked), obeys each community's rules, and discloses bot use where rules require it.