A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/sideprojects: 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 sharing and discussing side projects. People post the things they build outside their main job or studies, and the community expects those posts to carry real substance. The rules make it clear that a project post should give readers something useful beyond the project itself, like the problem it solves, the technologies used, or resources such as a GitHub repo or blog post. It is also a place to give and get feedback, and the feedback rule asks people to be respectful, specific, and actionable. If you are a founder with something you built, this is a room built for exactly that, as long as you come to contribute and not just to advertise.
The rule that decides most marketing-adjacent posts here is “Project Posts Must Include Details”. You need to explain the problem your project solves or the need it addresses, plus the technologies used and resources like GitHub or blog posts. “No Spam or Excessive Self-Promotion” means valuable posts are welcome but blatant advertisements are not, you cannot repost the same project without significant updates, affiliate links are out, and you should engage with the community beyond promoting your own work. “No Funnelling” bans posts designed to get people to DM you for more information, so all value must live inside the post. “No Astroturfing” requires you to be transparent about your relationship to any project you post, and getting caught means both you and your project are permanently removed. Finally, “Flair Appropriately” means you must pick the right flair, using the showcase flairs for projects and the vibecoded showcase flairs if you vibe-coded it.
Write a post where the details do the selling. Open with the problem your project solves or the need it addresses, then explain how it works and list the technologies you used. Link resources that add value, like a GitHub repo, a blog post about your build, or anything else readers can learn from. If you built it with AI tools, use the vibecoded showcase flair, otherwise use the showcase flair. Be upfront that the project is yours, because transparency is required here. If you are posting about a project you shared before, only do it when you have significant updates to show. Then stick around and engage with comments and other people's posts, since the rules expect you to participate beyond your own promotion.
Do not drop a bare link with no context, because posts without project details get removed. Do not repost the same project without significant updates, and never include affiliate links. Do not write posts that steer people into DMs, even slyly, because funnelling is banned and the value of your post must be wholly contained within the post. Never pretend to be a regular user who stumbled on your own project, since astroturfing gets you and your project permanently removed. Do not use the wrong flair, and when you comment on other people's projects, keep feedback constructive, specific, and free of personal attacks.
Want the version that does not run out? Subscribers get unlimited tool runs and more careful checks before posting.
Get my free Reddit SEO auditStart your 3-day free trial. Card required. $99/month after trial. Next, connect a verified Reddit account; no strategy starts until you explicitly start Rankhog.
Yes, sharing your own project is the point of this community. You just have to be transparent that it is yours, include real details like the problem it solves and the technologies used, and pick the right showcase flair.
The rules say to refrain from posting the same project without significant updates from your last post. So each new post about the same project needs something meaningfully new to show or tell.
No. The rules explicitly ask you to refrain from posting affiliate links, and the moderator note lists affiliate links as a removal reason.
No. “No Funnelling” bans posts that openly or slyly get people to DM you. All the value of your post has to live inside the post itself.
Use the showcase flairs if you are showing a project, and the vibecoded showcase flairs if you vibe-coded it. Flair is required, and the wrong flair is a removal reason.
Side project builders and makers
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/InternetIsBeautiful: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
Side project builders and makers
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/SideProject: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
Side project builders and makers
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/digitalminimalism: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.