r/learnprogramming rules, stats, and what to post

This is a subreddit for all questions related to programming in any programming language, and contributions are only allowed in English. The people posting here are learners, from complete beginners working through their first problems to people stuck on specific parts of a project. The rules make the purpose very clear: this is a place to learn programming, not a place to advertise projects, get tech support, or trade favors. If you show up here, you show up as someone learning or someone genuinely helping others learn, and nothing else.

The rule that decides most marketing outcomes here is “No spam or tasteless self-promotion”, which says your posting history should not be predominantly self-promotional, your resource must be high-quality and complete, your post should not feel spammy, and self-promotion from first time posters without prior participation is explicitly forbidden. “No app/website review requests/app showcases” kills any post that promotes or showcases an app or website you have written, though asking for a code review is fine if you link only your code and are specific about what feedback you want. “No indirect links” means every link must go straight to the destination, with no shorteners, referral links, click-trackers, or intermediary pages that add no value. “AI generated” bans AI generated or AI worked over posts and comments, questions about AI generated code, and vibe or agentic coding, and it says such posts are removed without warning and the poster is instantly banned. “Low Effort Questions” removes easily googleable questions and questions covered in the documentation, including how do I questions. “Do not ask exact duplicates of FAQ questions” requires you to cite the FAQ part you read and say exactly what you want clarified if your question is similar. “No complete solutions” forbids asking for or posting complete solutions, so help must focus on forward progress. “No off-topic posts” keeps out anything unrelated to programming and software engineering, including tech support and hardware recommendations. “Do not delete posts” means once you post, you leave it up and use the solved flair instead. “No unprofessional/derogatory speech” sets the tone, and violations cause an instant ban.

A good post here is a real question about learning programming, asked in the open, showing what you have tried and exactly where you got stuck. If you are a founder who codes, the honest play is to participate first, answer beginner questions, and build a history that is not predominantly self-promotional. If you share a resource or tutorial you made, it must be high-quality and complete, and the safest move the rules give you is to message the mods and ask them to review your post before you publish it. Any link must go directly to the destination with no shorteners and no wrapper pages. Code review requests are allowed, but only if you link your code and not your finished product, and you are specific about what feedback you want. Write everything yourself, in English, and never ask to ask, because the rules want questions in the open subreddit where everyone can benefit.

The fastest way out is the AI rule, because AI generated or AI worked over posts and comments get removed without warning and the poster gets an instant ban, so never let a chatbot write your post or comments here. Self-promotion from a first time poster with no prior participation is explicitly forbidden, and an account whose history is mostly self-promotion fails the spam rule too. Showcasing or promoting an app or website you have written gets removed, and even a code review request fails if you include a link to a final product or demo. Indirect links, shorteners, referral links, and click-trackers are out. Asking for or offering payment of any kind for help is banned, including bounties and offers to pay someone to do work for you. Complete solutions are banned in both directions, you cannot ask for one and you cannot hand one over. Easily googleable questions, exact duplicates of FAQ questions without citing the FAQ, tech support and hardware questions, and anything unrelated to programming all get removed. Deleting your post is against the rules, and piracy or anything illegal or unethical can get you instantly and permanently banned.

Rule 13, the instant ban for AI generated content, is the strictest AI policy I have seen in any guide I have written, so I would not touch an AI drafting tool anywhere near this subreddit. I also respect rule 5, the ban on deleting posts, because it shows the community cares about future readers and not just the person asking. There are no observed top posts for this community, which tells me the bar is set by the rules alone, and those rules are unusually clear about what dies on sight. My honest read is that this room rewards genuine teaching and punishes any whiff of a funnel.