Reddit, Hacker News and F5Bot
Set up watch keywords, subreddits and F5Bot alerts, read keyword health, and check subreddit self-promotion rules before you reply.
Reddit and Hacker News are where a lot of "what should I use for…" questions get asked. They're also where self-promotion is judged most harshly. This page covers how Larvabot watches them, and the tools that keep you on the right side of the rules.
#How Larvabot reads Reddit
Reddit limits API access for new apps and blocks many requests from cloud servers, so Larvabot tries several routes and uses whichever works:
- F5Bot email alerts, read from your inbox in real time. F5Bot setup
- A Reddit API app, only if you already have an approved one
- Reddit's public JSON and RSS feeds, when they aren't blocked
- Web search with
site:reddit.com, using your search keys
Hacker News is simpler: its search API (run by Algolia) is free and open, so stories from the last 30 days are searched directly.
Reddit tool page · Hacker News tool page
#Watch keywords
Watch keywords are exact phrases matched in Reddit and Hacker News post titles about every two hours. Edit them on the Analysis tab under Communities → Watch keywords (it's the same list as your community watch campaign's queries).
Good watch keywords sound like a person asking:
| Weak | Better |
|---|---|
invoice software | invoicing app for freelancers |
browser game | games to play at work |
CompetitorName | alternative to CompetitorName |
#Keyword health
Under the list, Keyword health shows each phrase with how many matching posts it had in the past year (Reddit caps this at 25, shown as 25+) and how many are new in the last 30 days. Phrases with no posts in a year are highlighted in yellow: nobody writes like that, so swap them for something people actually say.
#Subreddits
List subreddits on the Analysis tab under Subreddits, one per line, without the r/. Larvabot scans their newest posts for people asking, whether or not a watch keyword matches.
#F5Bot keywords
F5Bot is optional. Larvabot already watches every keyword and subreddit on its own, every two hours. F5Bot adds speed: it emails you within minutes when one of your top 5 keywords shows up in a new Reddit, Hacker News or Lobsters post or comment, and Larvabot turns each alert into a conversation.
#How it works, in one sentence
F5Bot has no login for Larvabot to use: it only sends emails. So F5Bot emails your inbox, and Larvabot reads your inbox (the one connected in Settings → Inbox).
That's the one rule: the F5Bot account must use an address that arrives in your connected inbox.
#Setting it up (about 3 minutes, per project)
- Get the address. Open the project's F5Bot tab (next to Setup). It shows a ready-made address: your connected inbox with
+and the project's name, such as[email protected]. Email to it arrives in[email protected], but F5Bot sees a new address, so every project gets its own free account (F5Bot's free plan watches 5 keywords per account). Click Use it for this project, then Save. - Sign up at f5bot.com with that address, and confirm it from the email F5Bot sends you.
- Add the keywords. Step 3 on the F5Bot tab lists the project's top 5 with copy buttons. Add each one in F5Bot, and paste its flags into F5Bot's Raw flags box.
#Is it working?
The status line at the top of the F5Bot tab tells you:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not set up yet | No address saved for this project |
| Alerts sent to … won't reach Larvabot | The address isn't your connected inbox. Use the suggested one, or forward F5Bot's emails to your inbox (below) |
| The address is right. Waiting for the first email | Sign up (or wait): any email from F5Bot to it, even the sign-up confirmation, turns it green |
| Connected | Larvabot has seen F5Bot's emails to this address, with when and how many alerts were filed |
Larvabot checks your inbox every 10 minutes.
Already signed up with a different email?
Either change your email in F5Bot's settings to the suggested address, or keep it and forward its F5Bot emails to your connected inbox. In Gmail: Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address, then create a filter for from:f5bot.com that forwards to it. Forwarded alerts keep the original address, so they still land in the right project.
Projects without an F5Bot address still get alerts for keywords on their list, from any of your F5Bot accounts.
#Subreddit rules
Most Reddit bans come from promoting in subreddits that don't allow it. Once a week per subreddit, Larvabot finds the subreddit's rules (through search, since Reddit blocks its rules pages to servers) and has the AI summarise its self-promotion policy:
| Policy | Meaning |
|---|---|
| banned | No self-promotion at all. Don't link your project. |
| restricted | Allowed in limited ways, like a weekly thread or a 9:1 ratio. The summary says how. |
| allowed | Self-promotion is fine within the usual rules. |
| unknown | No rules found. Read the sidebar yourself before posting. |
The policy and a one-line summary appear next to each Reddit thread on the Conversations tab, with a link to where the rule was found.
"Allowed" isn't a free pass
Even where self-promotion is allowed, a new account that only posts about its own product gets flagged. Take part normally too, and keep to the suggested pace.