Creators & audience

Best time to post in r/writing

The best and worst hours to post, the rules that get posts removed, and a check of your draft against both.

Posts in r/writing are most often removed for self-promotion issues. It is a public subreddit that does not allow link posts and does not require post flair. In our latest sample of 166 recent posts, an estimated 98% were still up about a day later.

Discussions about the writing craft.

Your draft3 free checks · no signup

r/writingChecked against this sub's rules

Verdict in seconds

The best and worst hours to post in r/writing

In our sample of 585 recent and top r/writing posts, activity and scores peak around Friday 4am UTC, and are weakest around Sunday 3pm UTC. Based on posts sampled through Sep 5, 2026. Times in this sentence are UTC; the grid below converts to your local timezone. Timing helps a clean post get seen. It does not save a post that breaks a rule.

Times in your timezoneUTC · GMT+0

Window 1
Fri around 4am
avg score 878.7 · 6 posts sampled
Window 2
Wed around 10am
avg score 987.7 · 3 posts sampled
Window 3
Thu around 1pm
avg score 524.3 · 12 posts sampled

Your timezone: UTC (GMT+0). Darker cells mean more posts in our sample.

Compare r/writing against every tracked community on the best time to post on Reddit tool.

Estimated survival rate

98%

of 166 recent r/writing posts we sampled were still publicly visible about a day later.

How this is measured

Estimate. We sample recent public posts and check again about 18 hours later to count how many are still publicly visible. Posts removed at the moment of submission never become publicly visible at all, so the true removal rate is at least this high. Last sampled Sep 5, 2026.

Strictness: ModeratePublic subText posts onlyFlair optionalPromo: designated thread only5+ karma statedAI content banned

r/writing rules: what actually gets removed

Each rule below is paired with the way it is most likely enforced. Where the rules state a number, we quote it. Where they do not, we say so instead of guessing.

1.No Posting Work
Enforcement varies
Samples of writing, whether for critique, self-promotion, or general sharing, may only be posted in the monthly "Would You Read This" or "Promote Yo Self" threads. **This rule is strictly enforced.**
2.Posts should be thoughtful and useful to a broad community of writers
Enforcement varies
We ask that users frame their posts so they are useful to multiple people. The Daily Discussion thread is open to all manner of topics, including those in the below prohibited topics list! Posts that contain any of our [prohibited or stale topics](https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/wiki/rules/prohibited-and-stale-topics/) will be removed.
3.No Generative AI
Enforcement varies
/r/writing is a place for human-created writing. We do not allow posts or comments that appear to have been generated, edited, or proofread by a generative AI tool. Posts and comments that mention AI (either negatively or positively) will be removed. Deliberately avoiding filters to mention the subject will result in a ban.
4.Submission Calls Requirements/AMAs
Removed by moderators
Please message modmail for all submission calls and AMAs. Any posted without moderator approval will be removed. Calls for submissions (including posts about general writing work) must include: 1) payment information 2) submission deadlines 3) rights requested 4) any other relevant information. Directing to a website to answer these questions is not allowed. Please limit yourself to one post per publishing cycle.
5.Civility and Community
Enforcement varies
Treat other people with decency and respect. We encourage healthy debate and discussion, but we will remove antagonistic, caustic, or otherwise belligerent posts. We moderate on tone rather than language. Hate speech will be removed. Please report any instances of offensive talk, and the mods will deal with them; do not police the subreddit yourself. Internet vigilantism and doxxing will not be tolerated. This also includes call-out threads, genre/literary-bashing, and "response" threads.
6.Minimum Post Requirements
Enforced automatically
**All users must first acquire 5 karma WITHIN /r/writing before being allowed to post.** All posts must be properly flaired. "Other" posts will be held for mod review. Please put forth effort in your posts; /r/writing is not a search engine and the community is not your research team. This means doing your best to look into your problem before posting, ensuring your post is readable, and respecting the time of community members.
“**All users must first acquire 5 karma WITHIN /r/writing before being allowed to post” · stated in the sub's rules

Can you self-promote in r/writing?

Only in the designated thread. r/writing restricts promotion to Promote Yo Self; a standalone promo post gets removed. The sub's own wording: "Samples of writing, whether for critique, self-promotion, or general sharing, may only be posted in the monthly "Would You Read This" or "Pr". Post your promo there and keep regular posts value-first.

r/writing by the numbers

Members: 3.4M
Active right now: Not public
Posts / day: 7; 424 comments / day
Community age: 18 years; since Jan 25, 2008

What a successful r/writing post looks like · 185 top posts from the last month
Median title length	Posts with a link	Posts with flair	Dominant format
55 characters	0%	99%	text posts

What gets removed in r/writing

Self-promo outside the designated thread
Promotion is only allowed in Promote Yo Self. A standalone promo post gets removed.
Account below the stated minimum
The rules state you need 5 karma. Below that, removal is automatic and silent.
AI-generated content
r/writing removes content it judges to be AI-generated. Obvious AI phrasing in a draft raises removal risk even when a human wrote most of it.
Reddit's sitewide spam filter
A separate layer before the subreddit ever sees your post. New accounts posting links, URL shorteners, and repeated domains are its favorite targets. Removals are instant and silent.
A shadowbanned account
If the account itself is shadowbanned, every post looks live to you and invisible to everyone else, in any subreddit.

Wondering about a post that already disappeared? Start with why Reddit posts get removed or run the free shadowban check.

Subreddits like r/writing

Posting somewhere adjacent? Each of these has its own rules and its own removal pattern. Check the one you actually plan to post in.

See all subreddits like r/writing →

r/writing posting questions

Can I post links in r/writing?

No. r/writing accepts text posts only, so a link-only submission is rejected at the door. You can usually mention a link inside the body text, but the sub's rules on self-promotion still apply to it. Check your draft against the rules before posting.

Does r/writing require karma to post?

Yes. The sub's own rules state a minimum of 5 karma. Below that, posts are removed automatically, usually without a message. Build karma by commenting before you try to post.

Can you self-promote in r/writing?

Is r/writing strict?

Moderate, by our estimate (30/100 on our strictness scale, from its measured removal rate, 6 rules, and its stated gates). About 2% of recent posts disappeared within a day in our sample. Strictness is about enforcement, not hostility: a strict sub is predictable if you follow its rules.

Does r/writing allow AI-generated content?

No. r/writing removes content it judges to be AI-generated. That includes obviously AI-phrased text even when a human edited it, so rewrite drafts in your own voice before posting here.

What is the best time to post in r/writing?

Based on our sample of recent and top posts, activity and scores peak around Friday 4am UTC and Wednesday 10am UTC. Treat this as a starting point, not a guarantee: a post that breaks a rule gets removed at any hour. The heatmap on this page converts these windows to your local time.

Why do posts get removed in r/writing?

The most common reasons are self-promotion violations, plus the layers every subreddit has: Reddit's sitewide spam filter, unpublished AutoMod rules, and account-level gates like karma and age. In our recent sample, roughly 2% of r/writing posts disappeared within about a day of going up. Many removals are silent, so checking your draft first beats finding out after.

Rules last checked Sep 2, 2026

Go deeper: how AutoMod removals work, the shadowban explainer, or earning karma the allowed way.

Stop getting silently removed.

Know if your post survives before you hit submit, and fix it if it won't.

Check my post for free

Paste a draft · verdict in ~10 seconds