Reddit AutoMod is a rules engine that checks every new post and comment the instant it is submitted. Each subreddit's moderators write their own conditions, banned words, link rules, karma minimums, flair requirements, and AutoMod enforces them automatically, removing matching posts in seconds, before any human reads them.
That speed is why so many removals feel baffling: your post is gone four seconds after you hit submit, often with no explanation. This guide covers what AutoMod is, the triggers that fire most, how to confirm it removed your post, and how to write a post that passes.
Have a draft ready? Run it against a subreddit's gates before you read on.
Free to start · no signup for the first check
What is Reddit AutoMod?
AutoMod, short for AutoModerator, is Reddit's built-in moderation bot, available to every subreddit at no cost. It started as an independent bot written by a Reddit moderator and became an official site feature in 2015; today it is the busiest moderator on almost every large community.
The key thing to understand: there is no single AutoMod. Each subreddit configures its own copy through a private settings page only moderators can see. The rules r/startups runs have nothing to do with the rules r/fitness runs. That is why the same post can survive in one community and vanish instantly in another.
AutoMod runs at submit time. The moment you post, it checks your title, body, links, flair, and account against every condition in that subreddit's configuration. A match triggers the action the mods chose: remove the post, hold it for review, flag it, or reply with a comment. All of that happens before a human sees anything.
How does AutoMod decide what to remove?
AutoMod removes a post when the post or the account matches a condition its moderators wrote. It does not judge quality or intent; it matches patterns. These are the triggers that come up over and over across thousands of subreddits.
| Trigger | What it checks | Typical fix |
|---|---|---|
| Banned keywords | Words or phrases in the title or body. Promo-shaped phrases like "check out" or "DM me" are common entries. | Rewrite the line. Say what the post is about in plain words instead of promo phrasing. |
| Links and domains | Any URL, specific domains, URL shorteners, or links from accounts below a threshold. | One full URL at most, spelled out, in the body. Never a shortener. |
| Minimum karma | Your comment karma, post karma, or both, against a floor the mods set. Often invisible until you trip it. | Comment usefully in open communities first and come back over the floor. |
| Minimum account age | How old your account is, commonly 7 to 30 days for posting rights. | Wait it out. No rewrite passes an age gate. |
| Required flair | Whether the post carries flair from the sub's approved list. | Pick a flair before submitting. Ten seconds, and one of the most common removals gone. |
| Title format | Required tags like [Question], length caps, all-caps bans, or a fixed pattern. | Copy the format the sub's top posts use, exactly. |
| Reposts | The same link or near-identical text submitted again, sometimes with a cooldown window. | Fix the original trigger before resubmitting, and change more than the title. |
Trigger list last reviewed: August 10, 2026.
Conditions also combine, and the combinations catch people who would pass each check alone. A classic configuration removes any link post from an account under 30 days old: the link is fine, the account is fine, together they read as spam. If you're sharing your own work from a young account, that combination is the wall you'll hit first. The exact floors differ by community, too: r/Entrepreneur's posting rules look nothing like r/webdev's.
How do I know if AutoMod removed my post?
The clearest sign is speed: AutoMod removes posts within seconds of submission, faster than any human moderator could read them. If your post died instantly, an automated rule fired. From there, three checks tell you which one.
- Look for a removal message. Many configurations leave a comment from u/AutoModerator under the post or send a message to your inbox naming the rule. If you got one, you already know what to fix.
- Open the post logged out. Copy the post's link and open it in a private browser window. Some removals leave the post looking live on your own screen while everyone else sees it as removed. Your logged-in view is not evidence.
- Check the timing against the symptom. Gone in seconds points to AutoMod or a similar automated gate. Gone after minutes or hours points to a human moderator, which is a different conversation. If your whole account seems invisible rather than one post, read the guide on what a Reddit shadowban looks like instead, or run the logged-out account check directly.
One more wrinkle: AutoMod doesn't always remove. Mods can set a rule to hold a post for review instead, which parks it invisibly in the mod queue until someone approves it. A post that appears hours after you submitted it was probably held, not removed.
How do I stop AutoMod from removing my post?
You pass AutoMod by posting inside the subreddit's rules, not by outsmarting it. The rules are written down, the triggers are predictable, and almost every AutoMod removal is avoidable with a few minutes of prep.
- Read the rules before you write. The sidebar and the posting requirements on the About page tell you most of what AutoMod enforces: flair, title tags, link policy. Reading them after the removal is the expensive order.
- Add the required flair. Missing flair is one of the most common silent removals and the fastest to prevent.
- Match the title format. If the top posts all carry a tag or follow a pattern, yours should too.
- One clean link, no shorteners. A single full URL in the body. bit.ly and friends are close to an automatic removal in most communities.
- Warm up a new account. Comment for a week or two before your first link post, and check the sub's stated minimums against your account. How karma works and why subreddits gate on it covers the account side in full.
- Ask when a removal looks wrong. A two-line modmail asking which rule fired gets answered far more often than people expect. Fix that rule, then resubmit once.
The framing matters. AutoMod is each community's written rules running as code, so "passing AutoMod" and "following the rules" are the same act. Anything that reads as evasion, like resubmitting the identical post or spelling banned words creatively, escalates instead.
AutoMod vs the spam filter vs shadowban vs karma gates
AutoMod is one of four filters that remove Reddit posts, and they get mixed up constantly because all four can act silently. AutoMod enforces one subreddit's rules, the spam filter is Reddit's own site-wide system, a shadowban hides your whole account, and karma gates block accounts under a threshold. Each leaves a different trail.
| Filter | What it is | How it removes | How you can tell |
|---|---|---|---|
| AutoMod | A rules engine each subreddit configures for itself. | Instantly at submit, per post, in that subreddit only. | Removal in seconds, often with an AutoMod comment or modmail naming a rule. |
| Spam filter | Reddit's site-wide system scoring every submission for spam signals. | Silently at submit; the post still looks live on your own screen. | The post is missing in a logged-out window while your profile loads fine. |
| Shadowban | An account-level block applied by Reddit itself, with no notice. | Everything you post anywhere is hidden from everyone but you. | Your profile returns a 404 in a logged-out window. |
| Karma and age gates | Per-subreddit minimums for karma or account age, usually enforced through AutoMod. | The post never reaches the feed at all. | Your account sits below a floor listed in the sub's posting requirements. |
If you're still not sure which one took your post, the symptom-by-symptom walkthrough in diagnosing a removed Reddit post narrows it down in a few minutes.
Quick answers
The questions people ask most about AutoMod, in a few sentences each. The sections above carry the detail.
Can I see a subreddit's AutoMod rules?
No. The configuration lives on a private wiki page only that sub's moderators can read. But the public rules, the posting requirements on the About page, and the format of the top posts reflect most of what it enforces.
Does AutoMod remove comments too?
Yes. Comment rules are common: banned words, links in comments, or minimums for commenting at all. A removed comment usually still shows on your own screen, so the logged-out check applies to comments the same way it does to posts.
Can moderators restore a post AutoMod removed?
Yes, in one click. Removed and held posts sit where mods can see them, and a short modmail asking them to take a look is often all it takes when a rule misfired. Ask once, politely, and wait.
Is AutoMod ever wrong?
Regularly. It matches patterns without context, so a legitimate question that happens to contain a banned phrase dies alongside actual spam. That is exactly the case modmail exists for, and why mods can attach removal reasons in the first place.
Check your draft before AutoMod does
Everything above is knowable before you post. A subreddit's rules are public, the common triggers repeat, and your account's public signals are checkable. WillItStay reads the target subreddit's live rules and posting requirements, checks your draft and account against its gates, and names the rule you'd trip before you submit, with a rewrite that passes.
Paste the draft into the checker at the top of this page, or start a fresh check. And if the problem looks account-wide rather than one post, the free account visibility check settles that in a few seconds.