r/Bitcoin rules, stats, and what to post

This community describes itself as the home for Bitcoin, a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money that runs without any government, company, or bank in charge. The people here care about Bitcoin itself and its ecosystem, and the rules say the subreddit is devoted to new information and discussion about exactly that. Rule 7 says it plainly, this is primarily a place for news and discussion. The crowd includes Bitcoin users, people following Bitcoin news, and businesses that accept Bitcoin, since rule 5 specifically welcomes new merchants to announce their services. What it is not is a general finance room, an altcoin room, or a marketplace, so anyone posting here needs to keep the focus on Bitcoin.

The rule that decides most marketing outcomes here is “Avoid repetition”, because it is the one rule that explicitly talks about advertising. It says new merchants can announce their services for Bitcoin, but once announced, it is no longer news and should not be re-posted, and anyone else interested in advertising is pointed to Reddit's self-serve advertising system. “Do not promote altcoins” matters if your product touches any other cryptocurrency, because submissions and comments that are mostly about some other cryptocurrency belong elsewhere, and that includes comparisons between Bitcoin and other coins. “The primary topic is Bitcoin” keeps general financial news out, so a story about markets or banking that never mentions Bitcoin is off-topic. “No URL shorteners or referrals” governs how you link, because you must submit the actual link, avoid editorializing article titles, and never use referral links or rehosting services. “No begging” and “No trading” remove the two most common founder mistakes of asking the community for coins or posting buy and sell offers. “No malicious content” is the one that can get your account banned without warning, so never link anything that could look like malware, phishing, or a scam.

The safest strong post here is real news or genuine new information about Bitcoin and its ecosystem, submitted as the actual link with the original title left intact. If you are a founder whose service accepts Bitcoin and it is genuinely new, you have one clean shot at a merchant announcement, so make it a clear, honest description of the service and do not plan to repeat it later. Discussion posts work well when they stay strictly on Bitcoin, for example a question or an observation about using Bitcoin, building on Bitcoin, or being your own bank. If you share an article, submit the actual link, keep the title as published, and never dress it up. If you quote or reference a tweet, quote it accurately. Everything you post should pass one simple test, would a person who came here for Bitcoin news and discussion find this useful.

The fastest way out is “No malicious content”, because linking to malware, phishing, or scam sites gets your account banned without warning, not just your post removed. “Do not promote altcoins” removes anything mostly about another cryptocurrency, including comparisons and impostor or fork coins. “The primary topic is Bitcoin” removes news articles that do not contain the word Bitcoin and general financial news, plus random music videos, gifs, or images. “Avoid repetition” removes re-posted merchant announcements and points advertisers to Reddit's self-serve advertising system instead. “No begging” removes any request for bitcoins, with the narrow exception of donations to large, recognized charities where the collector is trustworthy, and it also says do not post your Bitcoin address unless someone explicitly asks. “No trading” removes advertised trades like buying bitcoin or selling your computer for bitcoins. “No faucets” removes compilations of free Bitcoin or micro-work sites. “No URL shorteners or referrals” removes shortened links, rehosted content, editorialized titles, misquoted or heavily paraphrased tweets, and referral links. Finally, “Do not promote contentious hard forks” removes promotion of client software that tries to alter the Bitcoin protocol without overwhelming consensus, and “No trolling” can stop overly antagonistic or belligerent contributors from posting further.

The thing that stands out to me is rule 5, which lets new merchants announce their services but only once, so your single shot here has to count. I also respect how rule 9 bundles link hygiene with title honesty, because it tells me this community cares about how you share, not just what you sell. If your product is not genuinely about Bitcoin, I would pick a different subreddit rather than stretch the topic.