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r/Entrepreneur
"Check out my new SaaS tool that helps founders post on Reddit"
AutoMod is the invisible gatekeeper between your post and the community. Understanding it is the first step to posting without fear.
AutoModerator evaluates every single post and comment submitted to a subreddit before any human mod sees it. Moderators write YAML config files that define exactly what to look for, and AutoMod enforces those rules instantly, usually within seconds of posting.
There is no single AutoMod config for all of Reddit. Each subreddit's moderator team writes their own rules. A post that sails through r/SideProject may be instantly removed in r/Entrepreneur. That is why testing your post against the specific subreddit matters so much.
When AutoMod removes a post, Reddit often does not send a notification. Your post appears to exist on your end, but other users cannot see it. This is sometimes called a ghost removal. Tools like MediaFast help you write posts that avoid these silent traps before you hit submit.
Moderators write rules in YAML format (a structured text format). Each rule block defines what to check (author karma, title content, post type, domain, etc.) and what action to take (remove, report, flair, ban, or send a message).
A rule can check dozens of conditions simultaneously: account age in days, combined karma, post type (link vs text), title matching a regex pattern, body containing specific phrases, the domain of the submitted link, or even time of day.
Subreddits often stack multiple rule blocks. A post might pass the karma check but fail the keyword filter. Each rule block is evaluated independently, so your post needs to clear every active rule in the config, not just one.
AutoMod does not only remove posts. It can also approve posts automatically, add flair, leave a comment with instructions, report to mods for review, or send a message to the author. Removal is the harshest action, but partial interventions are common.
These patterns account for the majority of AutoMod removals across Reddit's top marketing and startup subreddits.
| # | Trigger | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minimum account age | Build your account age before posting |
| 2 | Minimum karma requirement | Gain karma in open subreddits first |
| 3 | Spam keyword in title/body | Remove promotional language |
| 4 | Link in text post body | Use a link post type instead of text post |
| 5 | URL shortener detected | Use the full original URL |
| 6 | ALL CAPS title | Use standard sentence case |
| 7 | Body too short | Add more context to your post body |
| 8 | Self-promotion rate limit | Comment and contribute before posting links |
| 9 | Missing post flair | Select the appropriate flair before posting |
| 10 | Repost/duplicate detection | Search before posting, avoid duplicate links |
Knowing which system removed your post tells you exactly what to fix.
Every trigger below has been observed across hundreds of subreddits. Removal probabilities are based on aggregated data from marketing and startup communities.
| Trigger | Removal Probability |
|---|---|
| Min karma threshold | 95% if below 10 karma |
| Min account age | 90% if account is under 7 days old |
| Banned domains | 99% instant removal |
| URL shorteners | 98% removal in any serious sub |
| Affiliate links | 85% in product subs, 30% in promo subs |
| Repeat title patterns | 70-80% depending on sub |
| Excessive caps | 75% across most subreddits |
| Title regex | 100% if regex matches |
| Body regex | 88% in strict subs |
| Self-post-only flag | 100% link removed |
| Image-only days | 100% if wrong type on restricted day |
| User report threshold | 60-90% depending on threshold |
| Comment removal cascade | 100% (cascades from parent) |
| Brand name blocklist | 95% in corporate-managed subs |
| Crossposting limit | 100% if crosspost to restricted sub |
Real YAML patterns mods use, followed by a plain-English translation of what each block actually does.
type: submission
author:
combined_karma: "< 100"
action: remove
action_reason: "Karma too low"Plain English: Any submission from an account with fewer than 100 combined karma (post + comment) is automatically removed before it goes public. Increasing your karma in other subreddits first is the only fix.
type: submission
author:
account_age: "< 30 days"
action: remove
action_reason: "Account too new"Plain English: If your account is younger than 30 days at the time of posting, AutoMod removes the submission instantly. No workaround exists; you simply have to wait out the minimum age.
type: submission
url:
domain: ["bit.ly", "tinyurl.com", "amzn.to", "cutt.ly"]
action: remove
action_reason: "URL shorteners not allowed"Plain English: If the submitted URL's domain appears in the blocklist, the post is removed. Always use the full canonical URL. Affiliate redirect domains often appear in similar lists.
type: submission
title (regex): "(?i)(buy now|limited offer|check out my|DM me|link in bio)"
action: remove
action_reason: "Promotional title detected"Plain English: The (?i) flag makes the match case-insensitive, so 'BUY NOW' and 'buy now' are both caught. If any of those phrases appear anywhere in your title, AutoMod removes the post instantly.
type: comment
parent_submission:
is_removed: true
action: remove
action_reason: "Parent post removed"Plain English: When a parent post is removed by AutoMod, this rule removes all comments on that post too. This is why your comments sometimes disappear with no individual notification.
Follow the branches to estimate your removal risk before you post.
If your karma is under the subreddit minimum (common minimum: 50)
100% AutoMod removal. No exceptions. Build karma first.
If your account is under 7 days old and the sub requires 30+ days
100% removal. Purely a time gate. No post changes will help.
If your title contains 'check out my', 'buy now', or 'DM me'
95% removal in any subreddit with keyword filters enabled.
If your URL is a shortener (bit.ly, tinyurl) or an affiliate redirect (?ref=)
98% removal. Switch to the canonical full URL immediately.
If you have an affiliate link parameter in body text
85% removal in product subreddits, 30% in dedicated promo subreddits.
If your title is in ALL CAPS or has 3+ fully uppercased words
75% removal across most subreddits that enforce formatting rules.
If your body is under 100 characters in a text-heavy subreddit
60-70% removal for looking like low-effort spam.
If you are crossposting to a subreddit that has crossposting disabled
100% removal at the platform level before AutoMod even sees it.
If your post matches none of the above and you have 200+ karma and 60+ day old account
Under 15% removal probability. Your post likely clears AutoMod.
If you have 500+ karma, 90+ day old account, clean URL, and original content
Under 5% removal probability. Human mod judgment is the only remaining risk.
Approximate thresholds observed across these communities. Exact values may vary as mods update their configs.
| Subreddit | Min Karma | Min Account Age |
|---|---|---|
| r/SaaS | 100+ | 30 days |
| r/Entrepreneur | 250+ | 60 days |
| r/startups | 200+ | 30 days |
| r/marketing | 100+ | 30 days |
| r/smallbusiness | 50+ | 14 days |
| r/sweatystartup | 50+ | 14 days |
| r/sidehustle | 50+ | 7 days |
| r/EntrepreneurRideAlong | 100+ | 30 days |
| r/SocialMediaMarketing | 100+ | 30 days |
| r/digital_marketing | 50+ | 14 days |
| r/SEO | 100+ | 30 days |
| r/webmarketing | 50+ | 14 days |
AutoMod is powerful but has hard limits. These patterns require human moderators to identify and act on.
A post that tells a compelling founder story while subtly promoting a product reads as genuine content to AutoMod. Only an experienced human mod can spot the promotional intent embedded in narrative framing.
When multiple accounts are controlled by one person to vote and comment in unison, AutoMod sees normal activity. Reddit's anti-vote-manipulation system catches this, but AutoMod's rule engine does not.
A beautifully written post that is completely irrelevant to the subreddit's subject passes every AutoMod rule check. Relevance requires contextual understanding that YAML rules cannot encode.
When an outside group floods a post with coordinated upvotes or downvotes, AutoMod cannot detect the coordinated origin. Human mods must investigate traffic patterns manually.
A post that meets the karma threshold, account age, word count, and formatting rules but adds zero value to the community sails through AutoMod. Quality judgment belongs to humans.
A post asking 'where can I buy this?' is fine in r/findfashion but violates rules in r/frugal. AutoMod cannot interpret the same phrase differently based on subreddit context without explicit regex per sub.
When spammers find a new phrasing pattern that mods have not added to the YAML yet, AutoMod has no way to catch it until the config is manually updated. There is always a lag.
Three anonymized posts, the exact AutoMod signal that caught them, and what would have passed instead.
Original Post
"Just launched [Product] after 6 months of building. Check it out at bit.ly/xyz. Would love your feedback!"
What AutoMod Flagged
Two triggers fired simultaneously: URL shortener (bit.ly domain match) and 'check it out' keyword match. Either alone would have triggered removal.
What Would Have Passed
Use the full canonical URL (https://yourproduct.com) and replace 'check it out' with a genuine question: 'Has anyone else solved this problem a different way?'
Original Post
"I started a newsletter about indie hacking. Here is my first issue." (Account: 3 days old, karma: 4)
What AutoMod Flagged
Account age (3 days vs 30-day minimum) and karma (4 vs 100 minimum) both failed simultaneously. The content itself was fine.
What Would Have Passed
Comment genuinely on 20-30 posts in r/indiehackers and r/programming over 4 weeks to build karma, then wait 30 days before posting a link.
Original Post
"I struggled for years with cold outreach. Then I built my own tool (link in bio). Our product has a 40% discount this week."
What AutoMod Flagged
Three signals: 'link in bio' exact phrase match, 'discount' keyword match, and a self-promotion ratio flag (the account's prior 5 posts all linked to the same domain).
What Would Have Passed
Remove 'link in bio' and 'discount', replace with specific learning from the experience, and include the URL as a plain hyperlink in a comment rather than the body.
Three separate systems operate on every post. Knowing which layer removed you determines how to fix it.
| Layer | What It Catches | Speed | Reversible |
|---|---|---|---|
| AutoModerator | Low karma, new accounts, keyword matches, URL shorteners, affiliate link parameters, regex title patterns, crosspost restrictions, missing flairs | Instant (under 5 seconds) | No. You must repost with a compliant version. |
| Human Moderators | Nuanced self-promotion, off-topic posts, low-value content, community culture violations, ban evasion attempts, sock puppet patterns | Minutes to days depending on mod activity | Sometimes. Polite modmail appeal may restore the post. |
| Reddit Anti-Spam System | Vote manipulation, coordinated brigading, account suspension triggers, shadow bans, platform-wide spam patterns, bulk link posting | Hours to days, often retroactive | Rarely. Account-level actions require a Reddit support ticket. |
Answers to the most common questions about AutoModerator and post removal.
AutoModerator (AutoMod) is a site-wide bot that subreddit moderators configure with custom YAML rules. It runs automatically on every new post and comment. Moderators use it to enforce karma thresholds, account age requirements, keyword filters, title format rules, link restrictions, and more. A post can be silently removed, held for review, given a flair, or even banned outright depending on the rules set up in that subreddit.
When you enter your subreddit and draft post, the tool fetches the subreddit's public description and rules from Reddit's API in real time. It then sends that context plus your post content to an AI model trained on AutoMod YAML patterns. The AI simulates the most likely AutoMod behavior and returns a removal probability score (0-100), a list of triggered rule patterns with severity ratings, a fix suggestion for each trigger, and an AutoMod-safe rewrite of your post.
The most common reasons AutoMod removes posts are: account too new (under 7-30 days old), karma too low (most subreddits require 50-500 combined karma), keywords in the title or body match a blacklist (words like 'buy', 'discount', 'check out', 'link in bio'), the post contains a URL in the body when the subreddit only allows link posts, the title is in ALL CAPS, the body is too short, or the post violates a self-promotion rate limit. Use the simulator to pinpoint which rule you triggered.
You should not try to bypass AutoMod rules. Subreddits set those rules for a reason, and attempting to circumvent them usually results in a permanent ban. The right approach is to understand which rules you are violating and fix your post to comply with them. This simulator helps you do exactly that: identify the rule, fix the post, and post something the community and its mods will welcome.
No tool can be 100% accurate because AutoMod rules are private YAML configs that only the subreddit's moderators can see. This simulator uses the subreddit's public rules and description plus AI knowledge of common AutoMod patterns to make a probability estimate. It correctly identifies the most common trigger patterns in the vast majority of cases, but edge cases with custom regex or private config items may not surface. Treat the prediction as a strong signal, not a guarantee.
For new accounts, the three most common AutoMod triggers are: (1) account age under the subreddit's minimum, typically 30-90 days for marketing-sensitive subreddits, (2) combined karma below threshold, often 100-500 for subreddits like r/Entrepreneur or r/startups, and (3) posting a link in a subreddit that requires text-only posts. The fix is to spend time building karma in smaller subreddits before posting in high-traffic communities.
MediaFast helps you write Reddit posts built to pass AutoMod, match subreddit rules, and get real upvotes from real communities.
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