r/scabies rules, stats, and what to post

This is a support community for people dealing with scabies, which is a skin infestation caused by mites, and for people researching treatments. The public description is short, a subreddit related to scabies and treatments, and the rules fill in the rest of the picture. The people posting here are usually worried, itchy, and looking for help identifying what is happening to their skin or figuring out how to treat it. Many are anxious, and the rules show the moderators work hard to keep the space from feeding paranoia or pushing people away from real medical care. This is a health support room first and a discussion space second, and anyone posting here should treat it that way.

The rule that decides most marketing outcomes here is “No advertising without prior moderator approval”, which says advertising is not allowed without prior approval and that posting an ad without messaging the moderators first gets you permanently banned. The second rule that matters is “No promoting the same thing repeatedly in every single post”, which mutes or bans users who drop the same product or treatment link across many threads without addressing each post. “No overconfidently diagnosing people based on photographs of a rash” matters because it forbids saying a rash looks like yours did, and it requires qualifiers before any treatment advice. “Avoid impossibly absolute statements regarding what you 'need' to do to cure scabies” blocks anyone from claiming their routine is the only way to be cured. “No promoting parasite or infestation related misinformation/conspiracy theories” bans promoting supposed infestations the medical community does not recognize. “Don't poison people against doctors providing a negative diagnosis” and “Do not provide scabies advice if any doctors think you just have anxiety/have delusional infestation” both restrict who can advise and what can be said about doctors. “Posts must be relevant to scabies” keeps every post on topic, and “No sexually explicit photos” is a hard content line.

For a founder, the honest answer is that this is one of the hardest rooms to market in respectfully, and the bar is very high. A good post is genuinely useful to one person at a time, tailored to their situation, and humble about uncertainty. If you have relevant experience with scabies or treatments, share it with qualifiers and without pushing a product. If you want to mention anything commercial at all, message the moderators first and get approval before posting, because the rules say advertising without prior approval means a permanent ban. A good post also respects the medical process, meaning it never tells someone to distrust a doctor who gave them a negative diagnosis. When in doubt, ask a question or share your own story with the caveats the rules require, rather than handing out prescriptions.

The fastest way to get banned here is posting advertising without messaging the moderators first, because the rule says you will be permanently banned. The second fastest is linking the same product or treatment across many posts without engaging with what each person asked. Do not diagnose anyone from a photo or say their rash looks like yours did. Do not claim any cleaning routine or remedy is the only way to be cured, and do not say standard treatments just do not work anymore because they failed you. Do not promote unrecognized infestation theories, and do not undermine doctors who gave someone a negative diagnosis. If a medical provider has told you that you do not have scabies and has referred you to a psychiatrist or diagnosed delusional infestation, do not give advice to others in the comments. Never post sexually explicit photos, and keep everything relevant to scabies.

Rule 4 stopped me cold when I read it, because a community that restricts who can give advice based on their own diagnosis history is protecting vulnerable people, not policing marketers. I also noticed that advertising without approval means a permanent ban, not a removed post, so the stakes here are higher than almost anywhere else I have written about. My honest read is that this room rewards caution and punishes confidence, and that is exactly the right instinct for a health space.