Quick answer

How Reddit’s moderation systems work comes down to three stacked layers, not one algorithm.

The sitewide spam filter, run by Reddit admins, can shadowban you silently.
AutoModerator, a bot each subreddit configures, removes posts based on account age, karma, or links.
CQS, a hidden Contributor Quality Score, lets mods filter low-rated accounts.

Before you post anything promotional, read the target subreddit’s rules first.

Three accounts, three different reasons

Here is a pattern I have seen play out over and over.

Three accounts, three bans, three causes that look identical from the outside and are nothing alike underneath.

The first account was 15 days old. It posted one discount code in a discount-codes subreddit. Banned almost immediately.
The second account played it safe. Three months old, posting codes regularly, with a few unrelated posts mixed in to “stay balanced.” After three automatic post removals, that account was gone too.
The third account got removed the instant a post included an external link. No warning, no slow build, just gone.

If you have lived through any version of this, you probably blamed “the algorithm.” That instinct is wrong, and it is the reason the bans keep coming.

Account	What happened	Real cause
15 days old	One discount code, banned fast	Sitewide spam filter (likely shadowban)
3 months old	Three removals, then banned	AutoMod removals, then a sub ban
Any age	Post with a link removed instantly	AutoMod link rule

The myth of “the algorithm”

Diagram of Reddit's three moderation layers, the sitewide spam filter, AutoModerator, and the hidden CQS score, stacked above a user. — Reddit moderation runs on three separate systems, not one algorithm. Each one fires on different triggers.

There is no single Reddit algorithm deciding your fate.

That is the first thing to get straight. Reddit moderation runs on three separate systems stacked on top of each other, and each one answers to different people, fires on different triggers, and punishes you in different ways.

Most people lump all three into one villain. So they fix the wrong thing.

They grind karma to beat a spam filter that does not care about karma. They wait out an account-age rule that was never the problem. You cannot avoid a system you cannot name.

So let’s name all three.

Layer 1, the sitewide spam filter and shadowbans

The first layer sits above every subreddit. Reddit admins run it, not volunteer mods, and it scans the whole site for spam and bots. When it flags you, you usually get shadow banned.

A shadowban = your posts and comments stay fully visible to you, and invisible to everyone else. No notification. No removal message. Your account looks completely normal from your side while nobody can see a thing you post.

New accounts dropping links and promo codes are exactly what this filter hunts for, which is almost certainly what hit that 15-day account.

The filter also targets bots and ban evasion, accounts made to dodge a previous ban.

How do you even know if it happened to you? You check directly. You can verify your status and appeal at reddit.com/appeals, and there is no notification when you get shadowbanned. ^[1]

How Reddit's moderation systems work (and why your account keeps getting banned)

Be warned about the timeline, though. Your shadowban stays in place until the admins lift it, and you should repeat an appeal at most once every 24 hours. ^[2]

People understand this layer least, because it gives you no signal at all. If your posts get zero views, zero votes, and zero comments across several subreddits, stop posting and check your status before you burn another account.

Layer 2, AutoModerator

The second layer is the one you hit most often. AutoModerator, or AutoMod, is a bot built into Reddit that mods configure per subreddit. It applies rules automatically to posts and comments. ^[3]

Every subreddit sets its own.

Mods use it to enforce things like minimum account age, minimum karma, title formatting, banned keywords, and outright link bans.

AutoMod commonly enforces subreddit-specific posting rules and removes content that breaks them. ^[4]

When your post with a link vanished one second after you hit submit, that was AutoMod matching a rule, not an admin banning you.

This distinction matters more than it sounds.

An AutoMod removal is not a ban. Your account is fine. One specific post broke one specific rule in one specific subreddit. You can often post elsewhere with no problem at all.

The “your post was automatically removed” messages are AutoMod talking, and they are usually telling you the exact rule you tripped if you read them.

What about the second account, the one banned after three removals? Honest answer, the “three strikes” pattern is not a documented Reddit rule. More on that below. The removals themselves were AutoMod. The eventual ban was a human mod or the spam filter deciding the account was not worth the trouble.

Layer 3, CQS, the Contributor Quality Score

The third layer is the one almost nobody outside of moderators knows exists.

Reddit calls it the Contributor Quality Score, or CQS, and it is a hidden rating attached to your account.

In Reddit’s own words, “CQS is an internal classification that was established to identify potential spammers or users less likely to contribute positively on Reddit.” ^[5]

Every account gets one. The score sorts users into one of five tiers, from lowest to highest, and mods can filter on it through a setting in AutoMod called contributor_quality. ^[5]

Here is the part that frustrates people most.

Karma is not CQS.

You can grind 50,000 karma and still carry a weak score, because Reddit builds CQS from a different set of signals.

Reddit says every account is assigned a CQS “based on a host of signals including past actions taken on a user’s account, network and location signals, and steps a user has taken to secure their account (e.g. email verification).” ^[5]

During Reddit’s own pilot, communities that switched from karma and age gates to CQS saw a 43 percentage point drop in automod reversal rates, meaning karma gates produced more false positives than CQS did. ^[5]

So no, your karma count is not the safety net you think it is.

Can you see your own CQS? No. It is hidden from users, and Reddit has not published the formula. Even experienced mods admit they cannot reverse-engineer it. One put it plainly years ago when discussing the spam filter, saying “the admins won’t give away the magic formula.” ^[6]

Reddit keeps the formula secret on purpose. Publish it, and spammers beat it within days.

The 90/10 rule, and why “balanced” still failed

Now back to that second account, the one that posted codes “with occasional other posts to stay balanced.” It followed the spirit of Reddit’s most quoted guideline and still died. Here is why.

Reddit’s self-promotion guideline says, “For every 1 time you post self-promotional content, 9 other posts (submissions or comments) should not contain self-promotional content.” ^[7]

That is the 90/10 rule. Promotional content should be roughly 10% of your activity, no more.

“Occasional other posts” does not clear that bar. If you post ten discount codes and three unrelated posts, your promotional share is over 70%. You did not balance anything. You signaled exactly what the rule is designed to catch.

There is real nuance here, and it cuts in your favor if you use it.

The 90/10 rule is a human-judgment guideline, not an automatic trigger.

Reddit states directly, “If someone exceeds the 10% that doesn’t automatically make them a spammer! Remember to consider intent and effort.” ^[7]

Crossing 10% once does not doom you.

A mod looking at an account that posts nothing but codes, with no comments and no community participation, reaches an obvious conclusion. Intent and effort are what they weigh, and a code-only account shows neither.

The “three removals then ban” question

People want a number. How many removals before a ban?

The “three removals, then banned” escalation is a plausible pattern, not a published Reddit rule. Treat it as inference, not policy.

What is real is that repeated AutoMod removals leave a trail. A mod reviewing a flood of removed promotional posts from one account does not need a counter set to three.

They make a judgment call, and the call goes against accounts that only ever try to promote. The lesson holds even though the specific number does not. Stacking up removals gets you noticed, and getting noticed as a promo-only account ends badly.

The cheat-sheet that keeps your account alive

Here is the practical part, built from the verified rules above. None of these guarantee safety, because every subreddit sets its own bar. Together they keep you off the obvious target list.

Wait 30 days before posting promotional content. Common account-age gates run at 1, 3, 7, and 30 days, and these are community conventions, not official policy. Thirty days clears most of them.
Build 100+ comment karma before you promote. Comment karma tends to matter more than post karma for posting access, and it is easier to earn. Karma minimums across subreddits typically range from 10 to 500 or more, set per subreddit.
Keep promotional posts under 10% of your activity. This is the 90/10 rule in practice, in Reddit’s own framing of 1 self-promotional post for every 9 that are not. ^[7]
Verify your email and phone, and turn on 2FA (two-factor login). Account-security steps like email verification feed directly into CQS. ^[5] This is one of the few CQS inputs you control.
Comment on other people’s posts, not just your own. Genuine participation is the “intent and effort” mods look for. ^[7] It also builds the comment karma from the second point.
Never use FreeKarma subs or buy karma. Posting in free-karma subreddits can and will get you banned from other communities, because mods treat it as a spammer signal. ^[8] The downside dwarfs the upside.
Read each subreddit’s rules before you post. Many ban promo content outright. The removal message, when you get one, usually names the exact rule you broke.

Some subs ban promo no matter what

Do all of these and you will still hit walls, because some communities ban promotional content regardless of how clean your account is. No amount of karma or account age changes that.

A clear example. The r/planners promo thread, the place specifically set aside for self-promotion, still states that “comments that include affiliate marketing codes or affiliate coupons will be deleted.” ^[9]

Even in the sanctioned promo space, affiliate codes and affiliate links are out. If a subreddit bans your content type, account quality is irrelevant. The fastest way to learn this is to read the rules, not to test them with a fresh account.

So before you post, ask one question. Does this subreddit actually allow what I am about to share? If the rules say no, no account on earth gets you in.

A note before you go

Reddit changes these systems often, and CQS details are not fully public. The figures here reflect early 2026 community consensus. The only fully reliable source for any specific subreddit is its own rules and its AutoMod removal messages.

That is how Reddit’s moderation systems work in practice, three layers, not one algorithm. When in doubt, read the rules and read the removal reason. Those two habits will save you more accounts than any number in this guide.