r/brussels rules, stats, and what to post

A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/brussels: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.

Members: 272.5K
Community age: Created Oct 2010, 15 years
To post: No minimum in the rules
To comment: No minimum in the rules
Self-promotion: Banned
Links: Allowed with conditionsLinks to articles in other languages are allowed, but please provide an English translation in the comments.
Promo risk: HighFrom the rules, not from removal counts

Checked October 28, 2026 from the community's public Reddit pages:

Check a post for r/brussels

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.

Rule summary

Generic advice, frequent questions and tourist requests for recommendations will be removed.: New posts asking for generic/frequently-given advice and recommendations for tourists will be removed (example: restaurants, cuisine, clubbing, bars, how to find an apartment/accommodation, safe/unsafe neighborhoods, meeting people, making friends and similar topics will be removed.) Search or use the pinned [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/brussels/wiki/index/) or /r/BelgiumTravel. Use the pinned Megathread for generic questions or do a Google search.
Keep it local. Posts & discussions should be related to Brussels.: Keep it local. Posts & discussions should be related to Brussels.
This is an international community so please use English as a means of communication.: Links to articles in other languages are allowed, but please provide an English translation in the comments.
No hate speech, racism, discrimination, bigotry, or illegal stuff.: Offenders can expect a permanent ban.
No advertisements or (personal) promotion.: Do not post threads whose sole purpose is to advertise your business/organisation. This rule also covers "ticket-swapping". These threads will be removed.
Do not call Brussels a shithole unless you live in the city and have a good reason to.: Do not call Brussels a shithole unless you live in the city and have a good reason to.
No flaming or personal attacks. Repeating it will result in a ban.: No flaming or personal attacks. Repeating it will result in a ban.
Spreading misinformation about the pandemic is prohibited.: Spreading misinformation about the pandemic is prohibited.
Surveys, Research, studies not allowed.: Surveys, research, information gathering etc. is not allowed.
Social: For social discussions (meeting people, making friends, dating, etc.), please post on r/BrusselsSocial.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII): Your post was removed as it has information that can be used to identify people, or shows people quite clearly (without their faces blurred) and it's not certain they gave their permission to be recorded.

Works well

A thoughtful text post about a Brussels-specific topic that affects people who actually live in the city, like a change in the neighbourhood you have noticed yourself.
A question about daily life in Brussels that is specific and not already covered in the pinned wiki or megathread.
Sharing a local news story or article about Brussels, with an English translation in the comments if the article is in another language.
Answering other people's questions in the comments where you can be helpful without promoting anything.
A genuine observation or discussion about city life that only someone following Brussels would care about.

Avoid

Posting a thread whose only purpose is promoting your business or organisation, which rule “No advertisements or (personal) promotion.” removes.
Asking for generic recommendations like restaurants, bars, clubs, apartments or safe neighbourhoods, which gets removed under rule “Generic advice, frequent questions and tourist requests for recommendations will be removed.”.
Running a survey, study or information gathering exercise, which rule “Surveys, Research, studies not allowed.” bans outright.
Posting something unrelated to Brussels, which breaks rule “Keep it local. Posts & discussions should be related to Brussels.”.
Putting a social, dating or friend-making post here instead of on r/BrusselsSocial.
Sharing an article in another language without an English translation in the comments, which breaks rule “This is an international community so please use English as a means of communication.”.

What r/brussels Is For

r/brussels is for people who live in Brussels or want to learn more about the city. That is the whole description, and the rules sharpen it. The community wants local discussion about the city itself, not generic advice threads. The moderators say in one line that they remove generic tourist questions, non-local content, ads, surveys, and posts that belong on r/BrusselsSocial. The people posting here are residents and people interested in the city, and the community is explicitly international, which is why English is the required language for communication.

Rules That Matter Before Posting

Rule “No advertisements or (personal) promotion.” is the hard wall for any founder. It removes threads whose sole purpose is advertising your business or organisation, and it also covers ticket-swapping. Rule “Keep it local. Posts & discussions should be related to Brussels.” means even a soft marketing angle has to be genuinely about Brussels or it goes. Rule “Generic advice, frequent questions and tourist requests for recommendations will be removed.” kills restaurant, apartment, neighbourhood and friend-making threads, and points you to the wiki or the megathread instead. Rule “Surveys, Research, studies not allowed.” means you cannot use this sub for research or information gathering, which closes the usual interview and survey route. Rule “Social: For social discussions (meeting people, making friends, dating, etc.), please post on r/BrusselsSocial.” redirects social topics to a different subreddit. Rule “This is an international community so please use English as a means of communication.” allows links to articles in other languages but only if you provide an English translation in the comments.

What To Post

A good post here is about Brussels and only about Brussels. If you live in the city or you are genuinely trying to understand it, write about something specific that residents would recognise. A question works well when it is not the kind of thing the wiki already answers, so search the wiki and check the pinned megathread before you post anything generic. If you want to share an article in another language, that is allowed as long as you provide an English translation in the comments. If your post is about meeting people or making friends, take it to r/BrusselsSocial instead, because this sub sends those posts there. And if you have something to promote, this is not your room. The honest play here is to participate as a person, answer questions you actually know the answer to, and build trust over time. That is how you earn a place without ever tripping the promotion rule.

What To Avoid

The fastest removal is a generic question or a tourist request for recommendations, because rule “Generic advice, frequent questions and tourist requests for recommendations will be removed.” says those get removed and points you to the wiki or the megathread instead. Anything whose sole purpose is advertising your business or organisation dies under rule “No advertisements or (personal) promotion.” Surveys, research and information gathering are not allowed at all, so skip any form or study link. Keep everything related to Brussels or rule “Keep it local. Posts & discussions should be related to Brussels.” takes it down. Social topics like meeting people and making friends belong on r/BrusselsSocial. Hate speech, discrimination and illegal stuff earn a permanent ban, and flaming or personal attacks get you banned if you repeat them. Do not spread misinformation about the pandemic. Do not post anything that can identify a private person or shows people clearly without blurred faces, since that falls under the personally identifiable information rule. And whatever you do, do not call Brussels a shithole unless you live in the city and have a good reason to.

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Common questions about r/brussels

Can I mention my product or company here?

Rule “No advertisements or (personal) promotion.” removes threads whose sole purpose is to advertise your business or organisation, so a post built around your company will not survive.

Can I run a survey or ask people for interviews?

No. Rule “Surveys, Research, studies not allowed.” states that surveys, research and information gathering are not allowed.

Can I ask for restaurant or apartment recommendations?

No. Rule “Generic advice, frequent questions and tourist requests for recommendations will be removed.” removes those requests and points you to the wiki, the pinned megathread, or r/BelgiumTravel.

Can I post an article in French or Dutch?

Yes, links to articles in other languages are allowed, but rule “This is an international community so please use English as a means of communication.” asks you to provide an English translation in the comments.

Where do social posts about meeting people go?

To r/BrusselsSocial. Rule “Social: For social discussions (meeting people, making friends, dating, etc.), please post on r/BrusselsSocial.” redirects those topics there.

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