A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/pools: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
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.
Current public stats
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
This is a community for anyone connected to pools. People who work with pools, people who care for their own, and people puzzled by whatever is showing up in or around the water. The description says the group exists to share knowledge, troubleshoot issues, and keep water clear at every level of experience. So the room is a mix of pros and homeowners, and the tone is peer-to-peer. It is a place for discussion and advice only, which the rules state plainly. If your post is about helping someone understand or fix something pool related, you are in the right room. If it is about selling something pool related, you are not.
The big one is “Prohibition of Inauthentic Engagement and Self-Promotion”. It says the community is for authentic peer-to-peer exchange, it bans astroturfing and undisclosed material interests, and it states plainly that you do not promote your own business in any way. It also says product recommendations must be substantiated by technical or experience-based detail, and that anything reading like a scripted marketing persona can be removed at moderator discretion. Next is “Outside Linking”, which says do not simply tell redditors to ask for advice elsewhere. A link or a pointer to another site only survives when it is part of a greater attempt to provide a solution, with your own detail attached. Then “No Classifieds or Marketplace Posts”, which bans buying, selling, trading, or advertising of pool equipment, chemicals, or services, full stop. And “No politics” keeps the room off tangents, reflecting pools included.
Post real experiences with real detail. If you solved a water clarity problem, walk through what you tried, what failed, and what worked, with the numbers and product names behind it. The rules reward recommendations that are substantiated by technical or experience-based detail, so thin praise for a product reads as marketing and gets pulled. If you run a pool business, you can still participate, but you never mention your business, your services, or your prices, and you answer questions the same way a knowledgeable owner would. If you point people to another website like the rules example does, wrap it in your own solution first, explain what you did and what it saved you, then mention where they can read more. Asking for help with your own pool is always welcome here, and a genuine troubleshooting thread is the easiest way to become a familiar, trusted name.
Do not promote your own business in any way, even softly, even in a comment, even when someone asks for a recommendation you could fill. Do not post classifieds or marketplace content, so no buying, selling, trading, or advertising of pool equipment, chemicals, or services. Do not drop a link or a go ask elsewhere answer without constructive advice around it, because that gets removed. Do not touch politics, the rules make a point of it, and yes that includes the reflecting pool situation. Do not write like a scripted marketing persona, because the rules say content lacking the depth of a genuine exchange can be removed at moderator discretion. And do not hide a material interest, undisclosed promotion is exactly what this community is built to catch.
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No. The rules say do not promote your own business in any way, and undisclosed material interests are banned too. Answer with technical detail and leave your company out of it.
Not as a promotion. The Outside Linking rule only tolerates pointing elsewhere when it is part of a greater attempt to provide a solution, and a link to your own commercial page reads as advertising.
Yes, if you back it with technical or experience-based detail. Say what you used, what your water numbers were, and what changed. A bare recommendation without that depth can be removed.
No. The No Classifieds or Marketplace Posts rule bans buying, selling, trading, and advertising of pool equipment, chemicals, or services.
Not on its own. Give your own constructive advice first, and if another site has more detail, mention it as part of that fuller answer, the way the rule's own good example does.
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