Reddit Plan — two tiers, rule-verified where headlessly possible (2026-07-15)
Round 3 staged 3 no-link community posts + profile funnel (3-10 unlocks) with rules never verified. Overnight round 4 verified what CAN be verified without a Reddit login (reddit.com blocks anonymous API/page fetches — the per-sub rule pages need a logged-in browser, see the 10-minute morning check below). Honest result: one Tier-A link surface is CONFIRMED, one planned idea is KILLED by its own rules, and the community posts get a rule-check checklist instead of guesses.
What was actually verified tonight (with sources)
- r/SideProject — CONFIRMED Tier A. Self-promo explicitly allowed any day if you built it and show the real product (no email gates, no waitlists; direct links acceptable; “vague product posts with no build detail” get removed; reply to every comment; ~10:1 non-promo activity expected). Two independent 2026 sources agree: mediafa.st r/SideProject rules (2026), soar.sh subreddit database (2026).
- r/AppHookup — KILLED. Its rules exclude BLO outright: no “always free” apps, no freemium, no launch deals — it is a deals sub, and Decision 1 (no discounts, €6.99 everywhere) means BLO can never qualify. Do not post there. Source: sub guidelines as quoted by RedditDeck’s AppHookup mirror + appmasters.com Reddit ASO guide.
- Karma gates (general 2026 enforcement bands, secondary source): niche subs <50k members often no gate; 50k-500k typically 50-200 comment karma + 7-30 day account; 500k-5M typically 200-500 karma. The “~50 karma” warm-up target for r/tarot (500k+ members) is therefore LOW — treat 200 comment karma as the safe bar for POST-03, or post in the smaller subs first. Source: redship.io Reddit self-promo guide (2026).
- Not verifiable headlessly: r/iosapps, r/indieapps, r/tarot, r/witchcraft, r/oracle, r/oraclecards, r/tarotpractices, r/WitchesVsPatriarchy rule pages. These need the logged-in 10-minute check below. Nothing was invented for them.
Tier A — link posts allowed (post the app, follow each sub’s format)
A1. r/SideProject — CONFIRMED, ready to post
When: PH day (Tue 2026-07-28) — already sanctioned in LAUNCH-KIT §1 as a launch-day extra; this is the full post so it isn’t written at 9am on launch day. Format proof points (per verified rules): show the real product, tell the build story, no gates, answer every comment.
Title: I hand-wrote an oracle deck twice — once gentle, once sassy — and shipped it as an iOS app with a one-time unlock (no subscription)
Body:
The product: Bold Little Oracle — 72 oracle cards, each written by hand TWICE.
Same card, two voices: a gentle reading and a sassy one. You pull a daily card
free, and a single €6.99 unlock (no subscription, ever) removes the daily cap
and turns on the sassy voice.
The build story, ugly parts included:
- v1.0 shipped without the paid unlock because the IAP library broke the build
the night before submission. I shipped free and ate the revenue gap.
- v1.1 (today) restores it on expo-iap. Users who installed v1.0 are
grandfathered — everything stays free for them forever. Removing features
people already had felt wrong, so I didn't.
- No analytics in the app. I literally cannot A/B test the paywall. I find this
peaceful and financially inadvisable.
- Writing 144 readings (72 x 2 voices) took longer than the entire codebase.
Stack: React Native / Expo, expo-iap, no backend — nothing leaves the phone.
Live: https://apps.apple.com/app/[APP-STORE-URL] · site: https://boldlittleoracle.unicorn.land
Honest ask: tell me which voice lands for you — I wrote the sassy ones faster
and I still don't know what that says about me.
(Paste the real App Store URL after approval. It’s on Product Hunt the same day — mention that in a comment if someone asks, don’t stack links in the post.)
A2. r/indieapps + r/iosapps — CANDIDATES, pending the morning rule check
Both are plausibly link-friendly (small dev subs) but neither rules page could be verified tonight, and guessing is how accounts get burned. They are in the morning check below with a ready go/no-go: if the sub’s rules page explicitly allows dev self-promo/link posts → post an adapted (shorter) version of the A1 post, r/indieapps Wed 2026-07-29, r/iosapps Fri 2026-07-31 (never the same day as A1). If rules require a flair or a weekly thread, comply exactly; if unclear, skip — Tier B still runs.
Tier B — the existing no-link community posts (POST-03/05/08/12), rule-checked before sending
These stay exactly as written in LAUNCH-KIT §1 (no links, community-first). The morning check adds a per-sub go/no-go so none of them gets removed:
| Post | Sub | Risk to check (30-60 sec each) |
|---|---|---|
| POST-03 Wed 07-22 | r/tarot | Karma gate (assume 200, not 50 — see finding 3); “no app/business talk” rules some tarot subs have; if r/tarot forbids maker-context posts entirely, move POST-03 to r/tarotpractices |
| POST-05 Fri 07-24 | r/witchcraft | r/witchcraft historically requires flair + has strict advertising rules; check whether “I’m building something” disclosure sentence is allowed or must be dropped |
| POST-12 Wed 07-29 | r/oracle | Tiny sub — check it’s active (last post <1 week) or swap to r/oraclecards |
| POST-08 Mon 08-03 | r/WitchesVsPatriarchy | Check the “no self-promo of any kind” bar — POST-08 contains zero promo, should pass; confirm question posts are allowed |
Morning rule check (~10 min, logged in, do Wed 07-15 with §E)
For each of: r/tarot, r/witchcraft, r/oracle (or r/oraclecards), r/tarotpractices,
r/WitchesVsPatriarchy, r/indieapps, r/iosapps —
1. Open reddit.com/r/<sub>/about/rules (logged in).
2. Note: karma/age gate · self-promo rule · flair requirements · promo days/threads.
3. Apply the go/no-go above. Record the verdict in this file next to each row.
Karma warm-up (revised target)
- u/obadiah_finch: 3-5 genuine comments/day in r/tarot + r/oracle + r/oraclecards, starting today (unchanged), target 200 comment karma by Wed 07-22 (was 50 — low per finding 3). If short: POST-03 slip dates in LAUNCH-KIT apply unchanged; smaller subs (r/oraclecards, r/tarotpractices) likely have no gate and can run first.
- r/SideProject: the account needs some non-promo history there too — leave 3-4 genuine comments on other people’s projects during approval week (counts toward the 10:1 ratio the sub’s rules expect).
Honest channel estimate
Was 3-10 unlocks (3 community posts + profile funnel). With one CONFIRMED link surface (r/SideProject, ~260k members, launch-day slot) and up to two conditional ones: 4-14 unlocks. Not more — link posts in dev subs reach makers, not oracle buyers; the conversion story there is curiosity + PH-day momentum. The community posts remain the higher-intent surface and they still don’t link.