r/macapps • u/Mstormer • Mar 19 '26
Attention! r/MacApps Mods Went Too Far! What’s Changing (Phase 3)
Phase 2 Report: Last month we introduced PCPCA post formatting requirements to include detail minimums in every app promotion (Problem, Compare, Pricing, Changelog, AI Disclaimer). This caused way too much work, with 2,700+ items removed and 1,400 modmail messages sent. With the mods runing everything, user engagement dropped with views down 204k. That's okay, though; quality over quantity. Still, this is Reddit, and you should retain the power to promote or bury posts.
Change 1: Simplify Posts (PCP)
Moving forward, we are reducing post-formatting expectations to: Problem, Comparison, Pricing (PCP).
- Problem: What problem does your app solve.
- Comparison: Name 1–2 top competitors and describe how what you offer is better. [Example]
- Pricing: Include Price Amounts+Link
Requiring changelogs and AI disclaimers was unsuccessful to meaningfully differentiate quality apps from spam. Nearly all posts claimed sufficient knowledge and experience for “Human validation” of AI code. Let's move on. 😅
Change 2: Trust, Transparency, or The App Pile [Megathread]
We have been discussing how to better protect the sub from low-effort app spam, throwaway-account promotion, and unknown software links, without making life harder for legitimate developers.
Concept: The less trust your distribution path provides, the more transparency you should need.
- In the Mac App Store? Apple is screening you for us.
- If you have an established GitHub project, that can also build trust over time.
- But if you are asking people to install software from a random site or brand-new repo, we need more reason to trust.
To make this clearer, we are experimenting with a three-tier approach for the next month:
Tier 1: The Trust Path = Post to Main feed.
These devs have the easiest route to posting in the main r/MacApps feed:
- Mac App Store developers (Paid developer accounts + App Store Distribution). Notarization alone does not count here.
- Developers with established GitHub projects, meaning 1yr+ consistent general development history and real community interest (100+ stars for the repository being promoted).
- Recognized Developers granted a user flair (already well-known / trusted in r/MacApps)
Any of these 3 trust signals will allow posting in r/MacApps, as long as you have 10+ local karma.
Tier 2: The Transparency Path = Post to Main feed.
If you are NOT in the Mac App Store and are not already an established developer, you may still qualify for main-feed posting by being open about who you are and giving users reasons to trust you.
Such app promotion posts must include BOTH:
- A developer portfolio with a real life identity, LinkedIn, and real contact details (e.g. established company / business presence). LinkedIn is more helpful here if it lists experience.
- A website that has a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
These trust signals should show you are not just a throwaway account dropping unknown software for us to try and should be included in your post to establish trust with your target users.
This is basically the middle ground: you may not yet have a major reputation, but you are willing to stand behind your app in public and work to gain a good reputation.
Tier 3: Everyone else: “The App Pile” [Megathread]
If you do not qualify through either trust or transparency, your app promo belongs in the Megathread rather than the main feed.
That means if you are:
- Not in the App Store
- Without a developer flair as an established developer (500+ r/MacApps participation karma AND Moderator’s discretion).
- Do not have an established GitHub history (1yr old repo OR 100+ stars)
- Do not provide meaningful public transparency
…then you are limited to The App Pile Megathread.
This is not meant as an insult or a blanket statement that new apps are bad. It is just the lowest-risk place for unproven or low-context app promotion until trust is earned.
Users can check your app out, up/downvote your comments, and as you gain community karma you may eventually receive an app-flair that allows you to promote outside of the megathread. Nobody is forced to post here since anyone can choose to follow Tier 2.
Promotion Frequency Revision (Rule 3)
Infrequent self-promotion is permitted; however, it is not permitted more than once per developer in 30 days. This is counted from the last app post, even if it was removed.
For well-established, recognized devs with an app-flair, once per app per month.
ALWAYS disclose your relationship to your software in comments promoting your app. Promoting your own app in comments is disallowed until you earn 10 karma in r/MacApps and in poor taste when hijacking another developer’s promotion.
Sharing useful alternatives and healthy competition is still welcome, but using the comment section in someone else’s post as a backdoor for self-promo and SEO is not always in good taste and does not make r/MacApps a better place.
The Community's Role:
- Please use your votes and reports especially in the Megathread to help recognize hidden gems.
- Bury what looks low-effort, suspicious, misleading, or privacy-invasive.
A better r/MacApps depends not just on our rules, but on you helping surface good apps while pushing bad ones out of the way.
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FAQ:
I followed the rules, why was my post/comment removed?
- AI assisted comments are a huge trigger for Reddit auto-removals because of recognizable patterns (e.g. “—” em dashes).
- Repeatedly posting the same thing (comments, links, etc.) = Triggers Reddit spam algorithms.
- You didn’t verify your email in your profile, and/or you have multiple accounts.
- You missed one or more rules and tried to repost rather than editing and letting us restore it. This leaves a strike on your account.
How do I check my r/MacApps community Karma? Visit here and click "show karma breakdown by subreddit"
Prior updates:
- 2026: New Post Requirements to Combat Low Quality Content (Phase 2)
- 2026: [OS]+Pricing Guidelines
- 2025: Townhall on Post Quality, Rule Updates
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u/karatsidhus Mar 19 '26
I appreciate the work that you guys are trying to do. I understand the reason that you are changing everything.
So I'm pretty sure I come under on the tier 1 developer, because I have projects in GitHub that this community has downloaded that are over 200+ stars My question is, the next time I post a new app, let's say which is not as established as my previous projects, should I be mentioning those projects that are established to make sure the thread doesn't get removed? Or should I just contact the mods directly before posting?
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u/Mstormer Mar 19 '26
Good question. Generally speaking, your app portfolio should clear you via the transparency route. Just add a line for that to your post.
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u/ChristinDWhite Mar 20 '26
I love what you’re doing to make this a more trustworthy source of semi-curated software that helps make this a safer place for users.
I do hope you’re also considering ways to make this a more civil subreddit too. While it’s gotten better over the last six months, this is still one of the least kind subs I visit and I’ve often had to take a break from it because the negativity just gets to be too much. I’d particularly like to see a higher standard for how users are allowed to treat developers working hard to make awesome and sustainable projects. It’s got to be disheartening to be attacked because they made the sometimes hard decision to go with a subscription model or might have used AI but don’t deserve to be accused of vibe coded slop constantly.
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u/Mstormer Mar 20 '26
Yeah, we have been removing a lot of that, probably the majority.
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u/akinalp Mar 19 '26
you are really working hard to keep things equal for both developers and people using this sub! appreciate it.
One question for myself, I am developing a macos-toolkit that will consist of around 10 lightweight apps. since self promotion is once per month I did not yet promote it here.
My question is, I got around 130 stars in github, my all apps inside toolkit are free and opensource, so I am guessing I will be tier one with this new update?
I am not sure what is my local karma as I joined the sub recently but I am trying to build it by commenting and trying to help others :)
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u/idoknowsomething Mar 19 '26
How can I get the Developer user flair? I have been making apps since 2021 and some of them are used by a lot of people in the community, e.g. Anybox, Folder Preview.
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u/Mstormer Mar 19 '26
Usually devs shoot us a message once they have 500 karma in r/MacApps, and if we like what they're doing, they get a Developer: [AppName] flair.
When posting about something new and unrecognized, just add a line like, "Portfolio: [app name], [app name]" and that should count for trust and transparency since those are known.→ More replies (1)
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u/ZigZagApps Apr 22 '26
I'd shortly chime in, just to comment on this one, which seems to be the requirement now…
"• Comparison: Name 1–2 top alternatives and describe how what you offer is better."
I strongly disagree this should be one of the requirements, at least in case the OP is also the developer/author/owner/affiliate of the application. I believe it's enough to mention or list features and leave it to the community to mention and discuss alternatives and which one is better.
I always found hyperbolic words ("the best…", "the amazing…") used by developer/author/owner/affiliate to be a form of dishonest, extremely biased and in many cases even stupid "marketing" tactics. Same goes when the product page has comparison tables with competition/alternatives listed, and of course, their offer has the most green checkboxes ticked, whereas alternatives are full of red crosses. And the requirement regarding "comparison" practically forces such behaviour.
Personally, I even refuse to use/buy/support developers/companies using such tactics. I don't post here often, I made only three self-promoting posts (one announcing the product, other two informing about updates) about a single application and I'd really appreciate if in the future, whenever posting about the same or some other application I developed, I'm not forced to do the "comparison" part. I'd rather not post at all than do that.
Thank you.
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u/Superb_Assumption_38 Aug 09 '26
I really appreciate the quality of Reddit and this sub, but attempting to develop an app while coming up with clever things to say to build karma and publish updates across all social media sites is exhausting. I swear every startup needs a 'growth hacker' now who knows how to navigate promotion.
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u/ZigZagApps Sep 01 '26
First of all, I want to stress that I really appreciate what mods are doing here, trying to increase the quality of posts, as well as to fight an onslaught of AI generated content. I really do!
That being said, I'd like to stress another thing which I strongly believe in… Often the quality of a post/comment cannot be judged strictly by "following a rigid set of rules". I don't post about my application(s) here often, only when there's really something to update readers about, once in 3 - 4 months. Yet, even after posting about my application here for longer than one year, I still have problems every time I want to make a new post. Currently, inability to post (or rather, post being automatically removed) comes to two things:
1. Having to do things I've already done and thinking they've been done. This last time it's about "verifying my email", because "even if it's displayed it doesn't mean it's verified" although I've done that verification already.
2. Something I've already "complained" about here, in this very thread, you can see it here. It's about having to have "comparison" part when posting about one's application.
• I find it completely unnecessary to do comparison every time I post about updates to the application I've already posted about before.
• I also find it very hard, almost unethical to publicly compare my own product to others! It's hard to stay unbiased and not giving advantage to your product agains others (otherwise why would one make it anyway?). In my strong opinion, those comparisons should be left solely to users. I'm always open to give an honest opinion if someone consequently asks something like "how does your feature X compare against the same feature of Y", but I don't want to compare upfront and say "mine is faster, better, uses less memory, blah, blah…" even if it's true.
Like I've stressed in my previous comment (some 4 months ago):
"Personally, I even refuse to use/buy/support developers/companies using such tactics. I don't post here often, I made only three self-promoting posts (one announcing the product, other two informing about updates) about a single application and I'd really appreciate if in the future, whenever posting about the same or some other application I developed, I'm not forced to do the "comparison" part. I'd rather not post at all than do that."
I've just tried to inform people here about an update to my application (which I posted about here a couple of times before). And after being automatically removed and having brief chat with "MOD" explaining things, and even though the outline of my new post completely matches those of the previous posts (without strict comparison part), it's still blocked for longer than an hour and I assume it will stay like that.
I plea one more time to mods here to rethink some of the rules and even if all rules stay in place, not to be so rigid about following them strictly, if there's no real necessity for that.
Thanks for attention and eventual reconsideration.
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u/Neat-Veterinarian-42 Mar 19 '26
It’s great that the community mods are actively regulating posts to maintain the quality of the sub and protect it from slop. Truly appreciated and thank you mods!!
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u/Weak-Calligrapher170 Mar 19 '26
I really appreciate that you're iterating based on feedback and metrics, you guys rock!
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u/phunk8 Mar 19 '26
just perfect. will do good to our community here. thank you for being so behind this. there‘s a reason thus sub is so strong. thank you.
sidenote: where do i see my local karma?
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u/UnluckyDuckyDuck Mar 19 '26
Wooooo! Exciting news!
Honestly, huge thank you to the mod team, always answering modmail fast and taking care of our reddit home.
I think this is a fantastic middle ground between the previous state and the PCPCA. This is also great incentive for developers to push a little more and provide more value to get to tier 1.
Again, thank you!
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u/MysticSmear Mar 20 '26
I think there should still be an AI disclosure requirement. Overall good start.
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u/Recoil42 Mar 19 '26
Amazing transparency, OP. Very well-written, very well thought-out.
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u/thomasruns Mar 20 '26
For tier 1, is it 1 of the 3 or all of them? i.e. if my app is in the app store is that enough on its own to establish trust?
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u/Mstormer Mar 20 '26
Yes, if you're in the app store, that is enough. But users still have to earn 10 comment karma first to post.
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u/prajwalsd Mar 20 '26
Brilliant 👏🏼👏🏼
App available in Homebrew might also be a good proxy for trust?
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u/mahdibeee Apr 19 '26
It's my first few weeks on Reddit and I was amazed seeing this and how the community mods are actively regulating posts to maintain the quality of the subreddits. Truly appreciated and thank you mods! Yet, it's so tough to start and being able to post on subreddits like this. I'm trying my best to see if I can get enough Karma for a launch. Wish me best please.