What a Reddit Approved User Can Do in Restricted and Private Communities

What is a Reddit approved user?

Moderators make an account a Reddit approved user by adding its username to the community's approved users list, a moderation tool that controls who can see or post in that community. Reddit's moderator article User Management - approved users describes it in one line: "The approved users tool allows you to control who has access to view or post in your community." If a community you want to reply in blocks your comments, approval from its moderators is what changes that.

The status belongs to one community. Approval in r/SaaS means nothing in r/startups. Reddit's older code and API call approved users "contributors." The API reference lists /subreddits/mine/contributor as the communities "the user is an approved user in," and AutoModerator's is_contributor check matches an author who is a "contributor/'approved submitter'" in the subreddit. You will see both names in moderation tools and third-party docs.

What does an approved user get in each type of community?

An approved user gets something different in each community type, because public, restricted and private communities block different actions. Reddit's Moderation Tools overview sums the tool up as a way to "give users posting access to private or restricted communities, as well as removing posting frequency restrictions from public communities."

Community type	What non-approved accounts can do	What approval adds
Public	View, comment and post, subject to the community's filters	Removes "restrictions around how often they are posting or how new their account is"
Restricted	View and vote; posting, commenting or both is limited to approved users	The right to post, comment or both, depending on the setting
Private	Nothing beyond the community's name and description	The right to view and take part

Restricted communities come in three settings. Reddit's Community settings article says moderators of a restricted community can set it so "only approved users can make posts (default setting), only approved users can make comments but not posts, or only approved users can make posts and comments." Under the default, anyone can still comment, so a restricted community does not always block a reply. Under the third setting, only approved users can comment at all.

The private row follows from Reddit's article What are public, restricted, private, and premium-only communities?, which says "only members of the community that are approved by moderators can view and participate in private communities." The full breakdown of community types is in our guide to what a subreddit is.

Which filters does an approved user bypass?

An approved user bypasses four of Reddit's moderation filters by name, according to Reddit's own help articles. Three of them answer the same FAQ question, "Will the filter affect approved users?", with the same sentence: "No, anyone you've added as an approved user will not be caught by this filter."

Filter	What it catches	Approved users
Crowd Control	Comments and posts from accounts with negative community karma, new accounts and non-members, depending on the level	Not caught
Reputation filter	Content from possible spammers and unestablished accounts, scored with the Contributor Quality Score	Not caught
Adult content promoters filter	Users who promote adult content, in safe-for-work communities	Not caught
Ban evasion filter	Accounts with signals linking them to a banned user	Not flagged once added to the list

The ban evasion article gives moderators two ways to clear an account: approve its filtered content three times, or "add the account to the approved users list," after which "future content will not be flagged."

AutoModerator works differently. Reddit's AMA guidance tells moderators to add a guest as an approved user and, as a separate step, to "exclude them from automated filters," because approval does not switch AutoModerator off. Moderators write rules that check is_contributor, which Reddit's AutoModerator documentation defines as "true/false - if true, will only match if the author is a contributor/'approved submitter' in the subreddit." A karma or account-age rule only skips approved users if the moderator added that check. That is why approval does not always end the removals described in our guide to Reddit karma requirements.

Approval also does not exempt you from the rules. None of Reddit's articles on the tool describe an exemption from the community's rules or from manual removal, and a moderator can still remove a comment from an approved user that breaks a rule, or take the account off the list.

What approval changes and what it leaves alone

Approval skips

• Crowd Control
• The reputation filter
• The adult content promoters filter
• The ban evasion filter

Approval leaves in place

• The community's rules
• Manual removal by a moderator
• AutoModerator rules with no is_contributor check
• A moderator's power to take you off the list

What else can approved users do?

Moderators can open some features to approved users only. Reddit's Community settings article lists "mods & approved users" as an option for who can create AMAs and for who can comment with videos. Reddit's AMA guidance tells moderators to add the guest as an approved user, saying "make sure your guest's posts won't be filtered out by existing automod rules or by Reddit's spam filters. Add them as approved users and exclude them from automated filters." Our explainer on what an AMA is covers the rest of that setup.

How do you ask to become an approved user?

You ask to become an approved user through the request button a community offers, or by sending its moderators a modmail when it offers none. Reddit's Community settings article describes both buttons. A restricted community can "accept requests to post," and then "members will see a request to post button. It'll send a mod mail to you and you'll have the option to approve the member." A private community can "accept requests to join," which "will also provide a button for members to mod mail."

A request that gets approved is short and specific:

1. Read the community's rules and sidebar first. If they explain how the community picks approved users, follow that.
2. Use the request button if there is one. If not, open the community's modmail.
3. Say who you are and why you want to take part, in two or three sentences.
4. If you work for a company in the community's field, say so up front.
5. Do not mention a product you want to promote. A request that reads as a sales plan gives moderators a reason to decline it, and Reddit's self-promotion rule applies inside the community once you are in.
6. Wait for a reply. Do not send the same request twice.

Approval can be undone from either side. Reddit's API documents /api/leavecontributor, described as "Abdicate approved user status in a subreddit," and moderators can remove you from the list at any time.

What does approved user status mean for replying by hand?

Approved user status decides whether your own account can reply in a restricted community, and no tool can reply there on your behalf. If a restricted community limits comments to approved users, the only way to answer a question in it is to ask for approval, get it, and then post the reply yourself from that account.

That fits how RedReplier works. RedReplier watches every public subreddit for the keywords you set, puts matching posts and comments on your dashboard within minutes of them going live, and sends email digests on a cadence you set per keyword, from hourly to daily. It drafts a reply for each match and never posts it for you, so every reply goes out from your account with your account's standing in that community. The Reddit replies workflow covers the review step, including checking the subreddit's rules before you post.

Frequently asked questions

What does approved user mean on Reddit?

It means a community's moderators added your username to their approved users list. In restricted communities that lets you post or comment, in private ones it lets you view and take part, and in public ones it removes limits on posting frequency and account age.

Can an approved user still get banned?

Yes. Reddit's articles on the tool describe no exemption from a community's rules, so moderators can still remove an approved user's content, take them off the list or ban the account.

Does being an approved user bypass AutoModerator?

Not by itself. AutoModerator rules only treat approved users differently when a moderator adds an is_contributor check to the rule. Reddit's Crowd Control, reputation, adult content promoters and ban evasion filters do skip approved users.

How do I know if I am an approved user in a subreddit?

Reddit's API lists the communities you are approved in at /subreddits/mine/contributor, under the mysubreddits scope. In a restricted community that limits comments to approved users, a comment box that opens for your account is the other sign.

Can I request to be an approved user in any subreddit?

You can send any community a modmail. Restricted communities can add a request to post button and private communities a request to join button, but only if the moderators turned that option on.

Is an approved user the same as a moderator?

No. A moderator manages the community through moderator permissions, while an approved user only gets access to view or post. AutoModerator checks the two separately, with is_moderator and is_contributor.

What is a contributor on Reddit?

Contributor is the older name for an approved user in Reddit's code and API. The API lists /subreddits/mine/contributor as the communities "the user is an approved user in," and AutoModerator's is_contributor check matches the same accounts. Both names point to the same list.

Does approved user status carry over to other subreddits?

Approval belongs to one community. Being approved in r/SaaS means nothing in r/startups, so you ask each community's moderators separately.

Can I remove myself from a subreddit's approved users list?

Yes. Reddit's API documents /api/leavecontributor, described as "Abdicate approved user status in a subreddit." Moderators can also remove you from the list at any time.

How do I get approved to post in a restricted subreddit?

Use the request to post button if the community offers one, since it sends a modmail to the moderators. If there is no button, open the community's modmail and say who you are and why you want to take part, in two or three sentences. Leave out any product you want to promote, and do not send the same request twice.