Android Themes [Mod Post] Important changes to self-promotion rules; effective January 3, 2020

[Mod Post] Important changes to self-promotion rules; effective January 3, 2020
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[Mod Post] Important changes to self-promotion rules; effective January 3, 2020

Posted: 27 Dec 2019 06:47 AM PST

Hi all. A while ago we've made changes to rule 7 allowing [Promotion] to be made on Fridays only. Initially this seems to have worked out, but as of recently we, the moderators, have been noticing an increase in rule 7 breaking. This means we need to make appropriate changes to further improve the experience for our community.

Starting January 3, 2020, all [Promotion] posts will need manual moderator approval. Thus, they will not be visible on the front page of our subreddit until one of our moderators reviews it and gives it a green light.

Currently every [Promotion] post is treated as all other posts, it's immediately visible to everyone. While this is convenient for posters, moderators still need to check those posts for rule 7. Often an "offender" will have an advantage of a few hours before their rule-breaking post is removed. This will no longer be the case.

If your [Promotion] post is fully compliant with our rules, a moderator will approve it, no action on your end will be required. If your [Promotion] does not comply with our rules, it will be removed, and you will have lost your chance to make a proper [Promotion] post in a given week. This means you get only one chance per week to make your [Promotion] post the right way. An example of how to properly make a [Promotion] post can be found here.

Giveaways

Starting January 3, 2020 it will be FORBIDDEN to make giveaways in your [Promotion] posts. Every attempt at mentioning a giveaway in your [Promotion] will results in your post being removed.

Instead, if you wish to give away some codes for your apps, you will have the chance to do so in a periodic mod post dedicated to giveaways. This will be the only place where you are allowed to do so.

Moreover, you will NOT be allowed to mention doing such a giveaway in your [Promotion] post or provide links to it.

As such, we'll be introducing a new rule regarding giveaways. You can find it at the end of this post.

The reason for this change is as follows. We've noticed developers/designers who have a lot of followers on other social media websites redirect their fan bases to giveaway threads on our subreddit. This is, on its own, against Reddit's site-wide rules. It's an attempt to solicit karma, and gives an unfair advantage over designers/developers who are just starting out and don't have a big audience.

All changes introduced in this announcement are our attempt to make everyone have an equal chance to get their app out there, no matter how many followers you have or how long you've been active. We want your content to be the reason you're seen, not anything else.

Further explanation on how rule 7 is executed

Also some answers to a few misconceptions and questions that have popped up since the last time we've discussed this rule.

Free and paid apps are subject to rule 7.
If you monetize your apps in other ways like PayPal, you are to follow rule 7 as well
Making a [Promotion] post on any other day than Friday is forbidden and might get you a 7 day ban
We use GMT 0 time zone to determine when Friday starts and ends.
You can only make one [Promotion] post every Friday. Making more than one will result in removal of all of them, and might earn you a temporary ban.
You can't promote your app again unless you've made a meaningful content update (added a bunch of new icons/included a new preset in a klwp pack etc).
Description of your app is absolutely necessary and expected of everyone making [Promotion] posts.
If your [Promotion] post is rejected due to not following the rules, you might get a 24 hour temporary ban to prevent you from trying again.
If you attempt to promote your apps without using [Promotion] posts, you will be banned.
Asking for upvotes is not allowed per Reddit site-wide rules, and we are executing that rule.