Reddit Community Starter

The Reddit Community Starter is the full starter kit from two live communities: rules, AutoMod, pinned threads, and the moderation habits that kept early members posting. A new subreddit dies from two things, no clear rules and no reason to come back, and this kit addresses both, assuming a human moderator rather than a bot: automation handles the boring enforcement, you handle the people. It starts with a 10-rule set you adapt freely: stay on topic, be kind, no vulgar content, no misinformation, respect privacy, no piracy, self-promo with context encouraged, no bare links or reposts, referral codes only in the pinned megathread, and mods have the final word politely. Nobody reads 25 rules, so the count stays low and each rule earns its place. The pinned-thread strategy pins exactly two threads: the themed discussion or build thread at #1 (the reason to return weekly, refreshed on a schedule) and the referral and code megathread at #2 (the funnel that keeps codes out of the feed). The AutoMod config covers three policies with copy-paste YAML: link policy per thread type (links welcome in effort threads, bare link posts held for review elsewhere), the referral-code funnel (comments auto-approved inside the megathread, removed elsewhere with a redirect message naming the rule), and per-thread exemptions by thread id for special cases. The human habits are the part no config replaces: every removal gets a short modmail naming the rule and where the content belongs, never a silent removal; Reddit's own spam-filter removals are left alone unless wrong; if Reddit removes something, it stays removed; and automated posting stays off until explicitly re-authorized. Growth comes from seeding real content yourself, replying sincerely to every early commenter, and cross-linking with your other communities, never from mentioning bans or removals publicly.