What's the biggest mistake people make on Reddit?
- Thread starter Aang Aang
- Start date
- Feb 24, 2019
- 5,034
- 1,509
For me, the biggest mistake is treating Reddit like a marketing platform instead of a community. People show up, drop a link, and expect results. The post I have seen perform best usually come from who genuinely participate, share their experiences, and build some trust first. Reddit user can spot forced promotion pretty quickly.
- Nov 16, 2011
- 19,741
- 11,245
Do not be in hurry. Take time to develop new accounts. Give first few answers without any link.
- Dec 19, 2019
- 879
- 288
I think a lot of people underestimate how important Community fit is. I have seen great content get ignored simply because it was posted in the wrong subreddit. Taking time to understand the community usually makes a much bigger difference than trying to push a message.
- Mar 21, 2013
- 24,724
- 31,526
Rushing it and overposting. A few good posts with 1000s votes are better than 1000 posts with 1 vote
- Feb 18, 2025
- 1,888
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They do the "Drop Link" method; thats one issue some agencies do with reddit. Reddit already has a good spam-detect system and if you plan to just drop a bunch of links; then yea of course they are going to ban the page. Instead, go and actually grow the account, in the expectation that you are not just waiting for the profile to get deleted. Other than that, that is one thing I noticed with reddit.
- Apr 19, 2014
- 1,896
- 875
Dropping invaluable posts back to back can make it seem like you're spamming or karma farming. Before you engage with the target community, choose a niche that is related to other communities, even if it has less traffic. It’s important to create an impression that you are knowledgeable about the topic.
- May 29, 2025
- 173
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Biggest mistake is treating Reddit like normal social media and pushing links too fast, Reddit users hate obvious promotion. Best results come from real engagement, helpful comments, and building trust before sharing anything
- Sep 7, 2012
- 610
- 351
They start spamming with a new account since day 1. Then when the account gets banned, they create a new account on the same computer or IP address, just to have it banned immediately after that.
Ideally, you need an account with 1+ year history in good standing until you promote something here and there. Or simply buy an account in good standing. Or pay someone to post from an account in good standing. There are no shortcuts on reddit.
Ideally, you need an account with 1+ year history in good standing until you promote something here and there. Or simply buy an account in good standing. Or pay someone to post from an account in good standing. There are no shortcuts on reddit.
- Feb 28, 2019
- 7,247
- 7,700
The biggest mistake is treating reddit like a public park. It's more like a prison. Build relationships, form your own gang, stay away from trouble, act like you have a life outside of it, and move on when you're screwed.
- Aug 3, 2014
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I think one of the biggest mistakes is skipping the “read the room” part. A lot of people jump straight into posting, but they don’t learn the subreddit tone or what the community actually responds to. On Reddit, fit and timing matter a lot.
Aang Aang
Junior Member
- Mar 24, 2026
- 100
- 42
I think you are right.
Yeah, a lot of people normally do that too.
I think you explained it really well. Reddit users generally care more about genuine discussion than promotions.
Gabriel Reyes
Newbie
- May 28, 2026
- 17
- 4
I am working on reddit from a long time. According to me, the biggest mistake is trying to promote something too quickly. There are lots of reddit users who join a subreddit, drop a link, and expect results. From my personal experience, reddit works much better when you spend time contributing to the community first and build some trust before mentioning anything.
vpnsaresmart
Newbie
- Mar 2, 2023
- 20
- 1
I feel like I spend a ton of time on reddit, mod some communities, and then I will go on a trip or something and suddenly my whole profile is shot. Just happened 7 month account 3500 karma, im a mod, and no warnings, no emails, but now I can't even approve posts or do mod activities. I know they are trying to combat bots, but it has gotten so hard to do anything on reddit these days.
vierasen
Regular Member
- Jan 26, 2016
- 247
- 67
Treating Reddit like every other social platform — meaning posting the same content across multiple subreddits, dropping links without context, or chasing karma instead of conversation. Reddit's algorithm and mods both penalize that pattern hard, but the real cost is reputation: subreddit communities have memory, and once you're flagged as "marketing here" by 2-3 active users, your future posts there get downvoted on sight regardless of quality. The accounts that actually convert from Reddit are the ones that look like long-term community members in 2-3 subreddits, not a presence across 20.