r/PHP rules, stats, and what to post

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

Members: 206.7K
Community age: Created Jan 2008, 18 years
To post: No minimum in the rules
To comment: No minimum in the rules
Self-promotion: Allowed with conditionsPosting links to your own content is allowed if the community finds it valuable and upvotes it.
Links: Allowed with conditionsIt is okay to post links to your own content as long as the community finds it valuable and upvotes it.
Promo risk: HighFrom the rules, not from removal counts

Checked November 5, 2026 from the community's public Reddit pages:

Best hours to post in r/PHP

No pattern yet. r/PHP does not have enough top posts from the last 90 days to name its best hours.

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Subreddits like r/PHP

Subreddits like r/PHP are r/programming, r/ProgrammerHumor, r/learnprogramming, r/webdev, r/mac, r/AskEngineers, r/javascript and r/gamedev.

r/PHP alternatives compared: members, karma to post and self-promo rules.
Subreddit	Members	Karma to post	Self-promo
r/programming	6.9M	None listed	Banned
r/ProgrammerHumor	4.8M	None listed	Banned
r/learnprogramming	4.4M	None listed	Limited
r/webdev	3.3M	None listed	Limited
r/mac	3.1M	None listed	Banned
r/AskEngineers	2.7M	None listed	Not listed
r/javascript	2.5M	None listed	Limited
r/gamedev	2.1M	None listed	Limited

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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

No direct, personal attacks: Do not attack anyone personally. Criticisms and strong language about a person's work are allowed, but attacking a person's character or calling them insulting names is not permitted.
Remain civil: The line where a heated discussion becomes uncivil is not always clear, but moderators have discretion to remove comment chains where personal attacks, insults, or excessive profanity come to the forefront. Avoid petty bickering, and you'll be fine.
No spam or low-effort content: Spam and low-effort content is not allowed and will be removed. Judging whether a post is spam/low-effort is based on community input, which is a combination of: reports, upvotes/downvotes and comments. It is okay to post links to your own content, as long as the community finds it valuable. On Reddit, the community will tell you with upvotes and downvotes: take it into account. Posts that have low scores will be considered as "spam" and removed. **Job postings are always considered spam**.
No help posts: /r/PHP is not a support subreddit. Please use the stickied weekly help thread, or visit /r/phphelp or StackOverflow for help. A good rule of thumbs: posts about a problem specific to you are not allowed, but posts and questions that benefit the community and/or encourage insightful discussions are allowed, you should flair those posts with the `discussion` flair.
No memes: Meme/image posts are generally considered low-quality/no-content. Please refrain from posting them.
Avoid duplicates: Some topics are so well-covered that they're frustrating to see asked over and over again. Avoid posting content or asking questions that have already been covered in the last months. Here is a search template you can copy-paste in Google to search on /r/php: `site:reddit.com/r/php your post title`.
Low-effort AI content: You are allowed to share AI-generated or AI-aided content on this sub, but only if it's actually valuable to the community. Content that is purely AI generated will be removed.

Works well

A technical writeup about a PHP tool, pattern, or ecosystem change that teaches something new
A discussion post about a PHP ecosystem topic, flaired with the discussion flair
A link to your own blog post or library, if the community genuinely finds it valuable
A benchmark, comparison, or lessons learned post that sparks insightful discussion
An AI aided article where you added your own testing and real insight

Avoid

Posting a job listing, because job postings are always considered spam here
Asking a personal debugging question as a standalone post, because this is not a support subreddit
Dumping a purely AI generated article, because content that is purely AI generated will be removed
Reposting a topic that was already covered in the last months, because duplicates get removed
Posting memes or image posts, because they are treated as low quality and no content
Attacking a person's character instead of critiquing their work, because personal attacks are not permitted

What r/PHP Is For

r/PHP is a community for sharing and discovering the latest news about the PHP ecosystem and its community. The people posting here care about the PHP language, its tools, and the discussions that grow around it. This is not a support forum, it is a discussion forum. The rules say it plainly, posts about a problem specific to you are not allowed, but posts and questions that benefit the community and encourage insightful discussions are welcome. So the room is for news, ecosystem discussion, and thoughtful questions, not for debugging help or job ads.

Rules That Matter Before Posting

Four rules decide whether a marketing adjacent post survives here. “No spam or low-effort content” says it is okay to post links to your own content, as long as the community finds it valuable, and the community votes on that with upvotes and downvotes. The same rule says job postings are always considered spam, so never post one. “No help posts” means personal problems are not allowed as standalone posts, but questions that benefit the community and encourage insightful discussions are allowed if you flair them with the discussion flair. “Low-effort AI content” allows AI generated or AI aided content only if it is actually valuable to the community, and purely AI generated content will be removed. “Avoid duplicates” matters too, because well covered topics frustrate people and get removed.

What To Post

A good post here is something the PHP community finds valuable, like news, a deep technical writeup, or a discussion question that benefits everyone. If you share your own content, make sure it teaches or informs rather than sells, because the community votes and low scoring posts get treated as spam. If you want to ask a question, frame it so the whole community benefits and use the discussion flair. If AI helped you create the content, add your own real insight and testing so it is actually valuable, not just raw AI output. Before posting, search the subreddit to make sure the topic has not been covered in the last months.

What To Avoid

Never post a job listing, because job postings are always considered spam and will be removed. Do not post help requests about a problem specific to you, use the stickied weekly help thread or r/phphelp instead. Do not post memes or image posts, they are treated as low quality. Do not repost topics that have already been covered in the last months, search first with the template the rules give you. Do not share purely AI generated content, it will be removed. Do not attack anyone personally or let a discussion turn into petty bickering, because moderators can remove comment chains where insults or excessive profanity take over.

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Common questions about r/PHP

What subreddits are similar to r/PHP?

Subreddits like r/PHP are r/programming, r/ProgrammerHumor, r/learnprogramming, r/webdev, r/mac, r/AskEngineers, r/javascript and r/gamedev.

Can I link to my own blog or product?

Yes, the rules say it is okay to post links to your own content, as long as the community finds it valuable and shows that with upvotes.

Can I post a job opening for a PHP developer?

No, job postings are always considered spam, so use a job board instead.

Where do I ask for help with my own code problem?

Use the stickied weekly help thread, or visit r/phphelp or StackOverflow instead.

Can I share AI generated content?

Yes, but only if it is actually valuable to the community, because purely AI generated content will be removed.

How do I check if my topic was already posted?

Search with the template site:reddit.com/r/php your post title in Google before posting, and skip anything covered in the last months.