HowTheyGotUsersHowTheyGotUsers

Keep a 9-to-1 Helpful-to-Promotional Comment Ratio

Keep a 9-to-1 Helpful-to-Promotional Comment Ratio is a reddit & forums tactic for getting your first users: Maintaining roughly 90% genuine contribution and only 10% promotional activity, and banking the nine helpful comments before ever making the one promotional one.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for any founder using Reddit for distribution. As a reddit & forums play, plan for medium effort and expect results to build gradually over time, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Reddit & forumsMedium effortSlow

Why does reddit & forums work for this?

Reddit's algorithm weighs your contribution ratio, so an account tilted toward helping doesn't trip the spam flags.

The exact steps (4)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

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Sources

Works for
Any / universal

Frequently asked

How is the "Keep a 9-to-1 Helpful-to-Promotional Comment Ratio" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 1 primary source — a real founder write-up or interview, not generic advice. It is linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original account yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?
It is medium effort, and results tend to be slow.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?
The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via Source — IndieHackers, is in the paid library.

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