Can I mention my product in a post?
No. The advertising rule says posts or comments must not focus around merchandise or advertising, and these are removed on sight as spam even if no purchase link is provided.
Subreddit guides
r/ProgrammerHumor rules, stats, and what to post
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/ProgrammerHumor: 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
- Members
- 4,768,712
- Verified
- October 12, 2026
- Category
- Technical product and developer communities
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
Rule summary
- Posts must be humorous and programming related: Posts must be humorous, and they must be humorous *because* they are programming related. There must be a joke or meme that **requires programming knowledge, experience, or practice to be understood or relatable.** [See here for further clarification](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/wiki/rules/programming-humor/)
- No reposts: Content that is part of top of all time, reached trending in the past 2 months, or has recently been posted, is considered a repost and will be removed
- No low-quality content: We also remove the following to preserve the quality of the subreddit, even if it passes the previous rules: - **Feeling/reaction posts** - **Software errors/bugs that are not code (see /r/softwaregore)** - **Low effort/quality analogies (enforced at moderator discretion)**
- Hotlinking to outside sources is not allowed: Hotlinking is not allowed without explicit permission from the mods, unless it is obvious that the host allows it (e.g. Imgur or other image hosting services). Rehosting for the purposes of offering a direct link to an image is allowed in the comments.
- Any common post will be removed if it's not novel: Any post on the list of common posts will be removed. [You can find this list here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/wiki/commonposts). Established meme formats are allowed, as long as the post is compliant with the previous rules.
- Put effort into your titles: Titles must also be creative, high effort and relevant to the content. Titles such as “Interesting title”, “.”, “print(title)”, and “I don’t know what to put here” are not allowed.
- No merchandise (mugs, t-shirts) or advertising: Posts or comments must not focus around merchandise, merchandisable goods (mugs, t-shirts, etc), or advertising. These posts are considered spam and removed on sight, even if no purchase link is provided. [Additional detail here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/wiki/rules/advertising/).
- All titles must be in camelCase: In order to improve readability of posts, all titles must now be in camelCase
- No AI generated content: We do not allow posting of AI content including screenshots of AI conversations. AI generated posts reuse commonly reposted jokes that violate our other rules. Repeat offenders of this rule will be permanently banned.
Works well
- A meme or joke that only makes sense if the reader has actually written code, posted as an image hosted somewhere like Imgur.
- An original joke about a shared developer pain, like debugging or code review, built on an established meme format with a fresh twist.
- A title written in camelCase that is genuinely creative and relevant, because the title itself is part of the joke here.
- A funny observation from your own work building software, shared with no link, no pitch, and no product name attached.
- A comment that lands a programming joke on someone else's post, which builds recognition without touching the posting rules at all.
Avoid
- Any post that promotes your product, mentions your brand, or links to a purchase page, because advertising is removed on sight as spam.
- AI generated jokes or screenshots of AI conversations, which are banned outright and can earn a permanent ban for repeat offenders.
- Reposting a meme from the top of all time, something that trended recently, or anything on the common posts list.
- A reaction image or feeling post with a coding caption, which fails the requirement that the joke must require programming knowledge.
- A screenshot of a crash or a weird bug in your own software, because non code software errors are removed.
- A title like a lazy placeholder, since low effort titles are explicitly called out and removed.
What r/ProgrammerHumor Is For
This community is for anything funny related to programming and software development. The people here are developers, and the bar for a post is specific. A post must be humorous, and it must be humorous because it is programming related. The rules say the joke or meme has to require programming knowledge, experience, or practice to be understood or relatable. So a generic funny image with a coding caption will not survive. The joke has to land differently for someone who writes code for a living. This is a humor community first, and every rule exists to keep it that way.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
The rule that decides everything here is “Posts must be humorous and programming related”, which means your joke must actually require programming knowledge to be understood. “No reposts” and “Any common post will be removed if it's not novel” mean you cannot recycle a meme that has already made the rounds, and established meme formats are only allowed if the post itself is still compliant. “No low-quality content” removes feeling or reaction posts, software errors that are not code, and low effort analogies. “Put effort into your titles” requires creative, high effort, relevant titles, and “All titles must be in camelCase” adds a formatting twist that trips up newcomers. “Hotlinking to outside sources is not allowed” restricts where your image can be hosted, unless the host obviously allows it, like Imgur. “No merchandise (mugs, t-shirts) or advertising” is the one that matters most for anyone with a product, because it treats advertising as spam and removes it on sight, even if no purchase link is provided. Finally, “No AI generated content” bans AI content including screenshots of AI conversations, and repeat offenders are permanently banned.
What To Post
A good post here is a joke that needs real programming knowledge to land, delivered as an image or meme with a creative camelCase title. If you are a founder, the honest play is to post as a developer first, not as a marketer. Share something funny from your own day building software, host the image on a service that clearly allows hotlinking, and put your wit into the title. If your product comes up naturally in comments because someone asks, that is fine, but the post itself should never point at it. Think of this community as a place to show you are one of us, not a place to show what you sell.
What To Avoid
Do not advertise or post merchandise, because “No merchandise (mugs, t-shirts) or advertising” treats that as spam and removes it on sight, even with no purchase link. Do not post AI generated content or screenshots of AI conversations, because “No AI generated content” bans it and repeat offenders get permanently banned. Do not repost anything from the top of all time, anything that trended in the past 2 months, or anything on the common posts list, because “No reposts” and “Any common post will be removed if it's not novel” cover that. Do not post reaction posts, software errors that are not code, or low effort analogies, because “No low-quality content” removes them. Do not hotlink to an outside site without permission unless the host obviously allows it, because “Hotlinking to outside sources is not allowed” blocks that. And never write a lazy title, because “Put effort into your titles” calls out filler titles by name.
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Common questions about r/ProgrammerHumor
Can I post a screenshot of a funny chat with an AI tool?
No. The rules ban AI generated content including screenshots of AI conversations, and repeat offenders are permanently banned.
Does my title really have to be in camelCase?
Yes. All titles must be in camelCase, and titles also have to be creative, high effort, and relevant to the content.
Can I link to a meme on my own site?
Not without explicit permission from the mods. Hotlinking is only allowed when the host obviously permits it, like an image hosting service, and rehosting for a direct image link is allowed in the comments.
Can I post a funny error message from my app?
Probably not. The low quality rule removes software errors and bugs that are not code, and points those to a different community.
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