r/Frugal rules, stats, and what to post

r/Frugal is a community about the mental approach people take when deciding how to use their resources, and the description says that includes time, money, convenience, and many other factors. The people here think hard about getting value from what they spend and what they use. The rules show this is a general discussion space, not a marketplace, because self-promotion, commercial links, and market research are all shut down. It is also a protected space in tone, since the rules demand civility and ban gatekeeping about what counts as being frugal. If you post here, you are joining a conversation about everyday resourcefulness, not pitching anything.

The rule that decides everything for a founder is “No self-promotion, solicitation, or market research.”, which bans self-promotion of any kind with no exceptions and warns that breaking it gets a permanent ban on the first offense. “No affiliate or referral links/codes.” bans posting or even offering to share affiliate links or referral codes, so any tracked link is out. “No commercial links.” bans linking to sites that sell a product, subscription, or service, which covers most company websites. “No low effort, off-topic, or overly specific content.” bans venting, memes, reposts, and anything overly specific to a product, location, or service. “No AI Slop” bans AI-generated content, though it allows posts encouraging AI for productive on-topic purposes. “Prohibited Topics” adds side hustles, cashback apps, stocks and crypto, and medical advice to the list, which matters because those are common founder angles. “No gatekeeping or gatebreaking.” stops anyone from claiming what real frugality requires, so keep your tone humble.

A good post here is a genuine contribution to the frugality conversation with nothing for sale. Share a real lesson about how you or your company saves money or resources, written in your own words with no links. Answer questions from other members with specific, practical detail. If AI tools helped you save time or money, you can discuss that use, because the rules allow posts encouraging AI for productive, on-topic purposes. Keep it general enough that it helps many people, since content overly specific to one product or location gets removed. Be civil, stay humble, and never imply that your way is the only frugal way.

Do not post or link your product, blog, YouTube channel, or app, because rule “No self-promotion, solicitation, or market research.” bans all of it with no exceptions and a permanent ban on the first offense. Do not share affiliate links or referral codes, because rule “No affiliate or referral links/codes.” bans both. Do not link to any site that sells a product, subscription, or service, or to paywalled news, because rule “No commercial links.” bans those. Do not post surveys, petitions, or market research questions. Do not post AI-generated content, because rule “No AI Slop” bans it. Do not post about side hustles, cashback apps, stocks, crypto, NFTs, medical advice, or unclaimed money, because rule “Prohibited Topics” lists them all. Do not vent, rant, post memes, or write anything overly specific to one product or location, because rule “No low effort, off-topic, or overly specific content.” covers that. Do not claim someone must do something to be truly frugal, because rule “No gatekeeping or gatebreaking.” bans it. And follow the posting and commenting guidelines in the sidebar, as rule “Follow posting and commenting guidelines in sidebar.” requires.

The thing that jumped out at me is rule 4, where self-promotion gets a permanent ban on the first offense, with no exceptions written right into the rule. That tells me the people running this community have been burned by spam and decided to stop negotiating. I also like that they ban AI-generated content outright, which means a hand-written, specific post stands out even more here. My honest read is that this is a community you participate in for trust, not for traffic.