r/melbourne rules, stats, and what to post

This is the city subreddit for Melbourne, Australia. The public description calls it a place to chat about Melbourne, the greatest city in Australia, and the first rule, “Talkin' Melbourne”, says discussion should be based around Melbourne and things that affect the people who live there. In practice that means local news, local events, things happening in the city and Victoria, and everyday questions from people who live in or near Melbourne. The rules also show what the community does not want to be: it is not a marketplace, not a survey panel, not a place to push your app, and not a dumping ground for low effort complaints or memes. There is a pinned daily thread for the small stuff, and the moderators clearly lean on it to keep the main feed focused. The people posting here are Melburnians talking to other Melburnians about their city.

The rule that decides most marketing outcomes here is “No promoting Apps/Websites”, which bans app and website self-promotion outright, even when it is framed as supporting a local developer. Rule 14, the catch-all with no name, adds that self-generating or promotional traffic aimed at driving external engagement is prohibited, and that artificial karma-boosting schemes are banned too. “No surveys, research, petitions or campaigns” blocks the classic founder move of asking the sub to fill in your form, with one exception: you can drop a link in the pinned Daily Thread, which gets replaced every day, once or twice but not daily. “No Low Effort Posts” matters because it bans rants, memes, overly repetitive topics, and posts without substance or context, and it pushes dating and moving to Melbourne questions into the daily discussion. “No Editorialising” only allows direct article links with titles that match the article headline exactly, and removes screenshots, text posts, and Twitter or X posts. “No Facebook/Twitter/X.com links” is short and absolute. “Talkin' Melbourne” keeps discussion local and excludes federal politics unless it affects Melbourne specifically. “No Duplicate Posts” means you should check the sub before submitting and vote or comment in the existing thread instead. “Spreading fake news” requires a link to a reputable news outlet for anything that could look like misinformation. Finally, “Follow Reddiquette”, “Be Respectful”, “No Hate Speech”, and “No Witch-hunts” together set the tone: argue with ideas, never with people.

Honestly, there is almost no direct marketing lane in this subreddit, and that is fine. The respectful play is to participate as a local first. A good post here is something genuinely about Melbourne that you would want to read yourself: a direct link to a news article from a reputable outlet with the title matching the headline exactly, a substantive question or discussion topic that affects people in the city, or something with real context and new insight rather than a rant. If you have something to share that is not a post, like a survey or a giveaway, the rules point you to the pinned Daily Thread, which gets replaced every day, and you can use it once or twice without spamming it. If you are a founder who happens to live in Melbourne, the winning move is to be a helpful, regular commenter on local topics and let people discover what you do from your profile, not from your posts. Comments are where you earn trust here, because the post rules are tight but the rules about being respectful and participating in good faith apply everywhere.

The fastest removal is self-promotion. “No promoting Apps/Websites” bans app and website self-promotion, including posts framed as supporting a local developer, and the unnamed rule 14 bans self-generating or promotional traffic aimed at driving external engagement. So no launching your product here, no link drops to your site, and no clever workarounds, because partial censoring to bypass rules or filters is also explicitly banned. Surveys, research, petitions, and campaigns are banned from the main feed under “No surveys, research, petitions or campaigns”, though the rule allows a link in the pinned Daily Thread once or twice, not every day. Buying, selling, exchanging, and renting posts are banned under “NO TRADING. No Buying, selling, exchanging (including tenancy swaps). NO TRADING.”, with free giveaways only allowed in the daily post. On links, “No Editorialising” means direct article links only, titles must match the article headline exactly, and screenshots, text posts, and Twitter or X posts are removed, while “No Facebook/Twitter/X.com links” bans those platforms entirely. “No Low Effort Posts” removes shit parking posts, rants, memes, dating posts, moving to Melbourne posts, and repetitive topics. “No Duplicate Posts” removes similar stories and reposts of your own submissions without approval. Beyond posts, “No Hate Speech” and “No Witch-hunts” are zero tolerance, and “Spreading fake news” gets repeat offenders banned. Karma-boosting schemes are also prohibited under rule 14.

This is one of the strictest city subs I have read, and I respect it. The rule about titles matching article headlines exactly is unusual and very easy to trip over if you are used to writing your own hooks. My honest read is that the only honest marketing move here is to show up in the daily thread and the comments as a Melburnian first, and let people find your work on their own.