r/shoppingaddiction rules, stats, and what to post

This is a support community for people recovering from shopping addiction. The description says it plainly: this is not a pro shopping subreddit, because shopping addiction can cause financial, emotional, and relationship problems. People come here to ask for advice, share their story, celebrate milestones in recovery, and pass along tips that worked for them. The rules make it a discussion only forum about shopping addiction as a disorder, so the room is built for peer support, not for shopping talk or anything commercial.

The rule that decides everything here is rule 1, a recovery related, discussion only forum, because it bans self promotion, links to external shopping sites, and anything unrelated to shopping addiction as a disorder. The “No solicitation” rule matters just as much for a founder, because it says members are not here to be interviewed or asked questions for private business ventures, research, or journalism. The “Avoid naming specific shopping sites/stores” rule is unusual and easy to trip, since even naming a store can be triggering for people in recovery. The “Please be respectful of other users” rule sets the tone, saying rude, disrespectful, or overly critical users get banned. The “Downvoting should only be used to report spam” rule tells you the community treats spam as the thing worth reporting, which is a clear signal about how promotion is viewed.

Honestly, this is one of the hardest rooms for a founder to post in, and most marketing posts do not belong here. If you still want to show up respectfully, the only safe shape is a plain discussion contribution about shopping addiction itself, written as a person, not as a brand. That could mean sharing a general insight about compulsive buying habits, or a recovery friendly observation that adds to the discussion without pointing at any product, link, or store. Describe any store in general terms, like the rule's own example of a large online female fashion retailer. If your goal is to understand this audience, do it by reading and participating as a human, and take any research or interview requests somewhere else.

Do not self promote, because rule 1 says self promotion gets removed. Do not post links to external shopping sites, which the same rule bans. Do not post anything unrelated to shopping addiction as a disorder. Do not interview members or ask them questions for a business venture, research project, or journalism, because the “No solicitation” rule says to post those requests elsewhere. Do not name specific shopping sites or stores, because the “Avoid naming specific shopping sites/stores” rule says this can trigger people in recovery and asks you to describe the store generally instead. And do not be rude, disrespectful, or overly critical, because the “Please be respectful of other users” rule says people who do that get banned.

What stands out to me is rule 6, where even naming a store can be triggering for people in recovery, so this community asks you to describe places in general terms instead. That level of care tells you exactly what kind of room this is. There are no observed top posts to learn from here, which to me means the safest move is to read quietly, follow the rules to the letter, and only post if you have something honest to add to the recovery conversation.