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I did this with the intention of promoting the product. The issue was that I built it on someone else's platform. Something I've known to be a cardinal sin and

I did this with the intention of promoting the product. The issue was that I built it on someone else's platform. Something I've known to be a cardinal sin and a disaster waiting to happen. Alas, I built /r/lifeprotips and it quickly became a default on reddit. I started building the site (lifeprotips.com which is no longer up) around the same time. Some moronic moderator named reddit.com/user/krispykrackers banned me because I was promoting the site on the subreddit. They still use artwork I paid an illustrator to design for my site that I re-used there. tl;dr: don't build a following on someone else's platform. You will be penalized because in 2016 there is no loyalty to the game anymore (I've been building sites since the late 90s so I know how corporate this environment has gotten). Also, big middle finger to reddit for trying to be a big boy corporation but failing to address issues like mine -- I spent so much time and energy getting that subreddit to where it is today and I get rewarded with a punch in the face.

fiatjaf 10y ago
Thank you for sharing. Do you think you would be as successful in developing an audience outside Reddit as you were inside it? Where? In a blog?
- fourstar 10y ago
  Of course. Honestly, probably not. Reddit was the perfect audience for that particular type of content, so it made perfect sense. There's only one other player in that space that I know who is really killing it and it's lifehack.org. Life Pro Tips focused on digestible pieces of content, but in order to monetize, it seems like you need more long-form types of content (that of which lifehack.org provides). I've moved on to other areas (like I've always done). I've had wins and I've had losses. The losses are necessary in order to keep the wins going.
sundvor 10y ago
I like that advice; don't build a following on someone else's platform. It could be extended to not building something that relies entirely on service X's API being open, because the moment they see the value in what you're doing, they'll want to shut it down and do it themselves. Also - great work, congrats on the success!
steveklabnik 10y ago
> Some moronic moderator named reddit.com/user/krispykracker (krispykrackers is an admin, or rather, was until a few months ago)

fiatjaf 10y ago

Thank you for sharing. Do you think you would be as successful in developing an audience outside Reddit as you were inside it? Where? In a blog?

fourstar 10y ago
Of course. Honestly, probably not. Reddit was the perfect audience for that particular type of content, so it made perfect sense. There's only one other player in that space that I know who is really killing it and it's lifehack.org. Life Pro Tips focused on digestible pieces of content, but in order to monetize, it seems like you need more long-form types of content (that of which lifehack.org provides). I've moved on to other areas (like I've always done). I've had wins and I've had losses. The losses are necessary in order to keep the wins going.

sundvor 10y ago

I like that advice; don't build a following on someone else's platform. It could be extended to not building something that relies entirely on service X's API being open, because the moment they see the value in what you're doing, they'll want to shut it down and do it themselves. Also - great work, congrats on the success!

steveklabnik 10y ago

> Some moronic moderator named reddit.com/user/krispykracker (krispykrackers is an admin, or rather, was until a few months ago)