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Subreddit guides
r/breastcancer rules, stats, and what to post
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/breastcancer: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog.
Subreddit guides combine public Reddit source URLs, captured rules, visible verification dates, and Rankhog's account-safety workflow.
Current public stats
- Members
- 55,276
- Verified
- September 27, 2026
- Category
- Mental health peer support communities
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
Rule summary
- No posting before diagnosis.: Please don’t post before you have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Try r/doIhavebreastcancer or r/womenshealth instead. Changes in your breasts should always be checked. If you have changes or any suspicious symptoms, see a doctor immediately.
- No research requests. No surveys. No product development.: r/breastcancer is patient-centered. Research and survey requests can make this space feel less safe.
- No fundraising.: No asking for help covering medical or living expenses. If you need help with these matters, please visit /r/Assistance/. No charitable fundraising.
- No link only posts. Posts that don’t explain the link will be removed.: All posts that share links must explain the relevance of the link.
- No advertising. No social media promotion.: r/breastcancer does not allow any advertising or promotion. Posts and comments will be removed if they include promotion of one's own business, ad content—including free offers or discounts offered by sellers as advertising—or mentions or links to the user’s own social media account.
- No “Breaking News” Cancer Treatments.: We want a cure; however, clinical trials, lab and mouse studies often do not progress to human trials or treatments.
- No promoting treatments outside standard of care. No misinformation.: Discussions are to be limited to standard of care cancer treatments. Content promoting alternative therapies will be removed. Misinformation also will be removed.
- Be supportive, friendly, and kind.: Cancer is hard for all of us. Please show kindness to your fellow patients and survivors. Kindness should extend to those not present on the subreddit, including their family and caregivers. We allow members to vent about the people in their lives, but this is not an invitation for others to pile on. No name calling, no bullying, no hate speech, no personal attacks. For more about this rule, please see the [Rules Page](https://www.reddit.com/r/breastcancer/wiki/index/rules/)
- All posts that discuss death and dying must use the death/dying flair.: All posts that discuss death and dying must use the death/dying flair. All posts with the death/dying flair will be held for review. This topic is reserved for regular users and the mods reserve the right to deny any post on death and dying. This flair is not available to new users. r/griefsupport and r/cancergrief may be better alternatives.
- Patient support only. Caregivers, please read full rule.: This subreddit is centered on patients. Caregivers, relatives, friends, and coworkers should only ask specific questions and express support. Caregivers must use the caregiver flair. Caregiver posts are held for mod approval. Caregivers should direct their concerns to /cancercaregivers /caregiversupport /cancerfamilysupport. If you truly want to know the best way to support your loved one, please ask them what they need from you.
- Moderator Discretion: Moderators have the right to remove posts/comments at their discretion.
- Acceptable AI Use.: Do not copy or paste other user's information into AI engines. Inappropriate use, misleading content, or other questionable data will be removed at the discretion of the moderation team. For more info, see: [Does your company have an AI acceptable use policy?](https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/17pxnls/does_your_company_have_an_ai_acceptable_use_policy/). AI data should be reviewed with discretion.
Works well
- A first person post from a diagnosed patient or survivor sharing what treatment or recovery actually felt like, written to help others.
- A patient answering a specific question from another member in the comments, drawn from their own experience.
- A caregiver post using the caregiver flair, asking one specific and humble question about how to support a loved one, submitted knowing it will wait for mod approval.
- A link shared only alongside a clear explanation of why it is relevant to patients in this community, and only if it is not tied to your own business.
- Reading and taking notes without posting, because observation itself is the safest way to learn what patients need.
Avoid
- Posting anything before you have a confirmed breast cancer diagnosis, even a soft question about symptoms.
- Sharing a link to your product, blog, or study without explaining its relevance in the post itself.
- Any advertising, free offers, discounts, or links to your own social media accounts.
- Asking people to fill out a survey or take part in research for your product development.
- Posting about lab, mouse, or early trial results as if they are breaking treatment news.
- Promoting alternative therapies or sharing unverified medical claims, which counts as misinformation here and gets removed.
What r/breastcancer Is For
This community is a support and information group for people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The rules make it very clear that it is patient centered. The people posting here are patients and survivors sharing experiences, asking questions about treatment that is standard of care, venting about their lives, and supporting each other. Caregivers can take part, but only in a limited way, with a specific flair and with their posts held for moderator review. This is not a place for marketers, researchers, or product people to gather insights or attention. If you do not have a breast cancer diagnosis yourself, there is almost no version of a self serving post that belongs here.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
Rule 1, No posting before diagnosis., means you cannot post here unless you have actually been diagnosed with breast cancer. Rule 2, No research requests. No surveys. No product development., rules out any founder trying to interview patients or validate a product idea in this space. Rule 3, No fundraising., bans any ask for money or charity. Rule 4, No link only posts. Posts that don't explain the link will be removed., means any link you share has to come with an explanation of why it matters. Rule 5, No advertising. No social media promotion., is the big one for marketers, because it removes posts that promote your own business, free offers, discounts, or links to your own social accounts. Rule 6, No Breaking News Cancer Treatments., limits you from hyping early studies or trials. Rule 7, No promoting treatments outside standard of care. No misinformation., removes anything that pushes alternative therapies. Rule 10, Patient support only. Caregivers, please read full rule., applies if you are posting as a caregiver rather than a patient, and that path requires the caregiver flair and mod approval. Rule 11, Moderator Discretion., means moderators can remove anything they judge off, even if you think you followed every other rule.
What To Post
If you are a patient or survivor yourself, the honest answer is that this community works like every good support group. Share your own experience, answer questions from a place of lived experience, and be kind. If you are a founder without a diagnosis, the respectful move is mostly to not post. You can still learn a lot by reading what patients worry about, what language they use, and what support they wish existed, without asking for anything. If you ever do have something worth sharing, like a resource that helped you, it has to come with a clear explanation of its relevance in the post itself, and even then it will be judged against a very strict no promotion rule. If you are a caregiver asking on behalf of a loved one, use the caregiver flair, ask a specific and humble question, and expect a wait for moderator approval.
What To Avoid
Do not post at all unless you have a confirmed breast cancer diagnosis. Do not share research requests, surveys, or product development questions. Do not ask for fundraising or post anything that promotes your business, your social media, or a discount on your product. Do not drop a link without explaining in the post why it matters to this community. Do not hype a new treatment, a clinical trial result, or an alternative therapy. Do not post about death and dying unless you are an established regular using the right flair, and even then expect it to be held for review. Caregivers must use the caregiver flair and should expect their post to sit in a moderation queue. And be careful with AI here, because the community explicitly discourages feeding other users' information into AI engines and expects any AI assisted content to be reviewed with discretion.
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Common questions about r/breastcancer
Can I post a link if it is genuinely helpful to patients?
Yes, if your post explains the relevance of the link and you participate as a member of the community, not as a seller.
Can I interview patients or run a survey to validate my idea?
No. Research, survey, and product development requests are explicitly banned because they make this space feel less safe for patients.
I am a caregiver, not a patient. Can I post at all?
Only with the caregiver flair, and your post will be held for moderator approval. Keep it to specific questions and support.
Can I post if I have not been diagnosed but my family member has?
Yes, and it is actually one of the safer options. The community description says it is open to survivors, so you can share your story or answers without claiming a current diagnosis.