reddit_presence v1.0.0

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.