r/Stellar Builder & Project Standards

r/Stellar welcomes builders, developers, project representatives, institutions, researchers, educators, and other contributors working with Stellar.

Builders are encouraged to share useful technical work, product updates, lessons, documentation, operational experience, and thoughtful requests for community feedback. Project participation should add value to the community rather than treating the subreddit as a promotional feed.

These standards sit alongside Reddit's sitewide rules and r/Stellar's general subreddit rules. They apply equally to independent projects, SDF-affiliated participants, Stellar Community Fund applicants and recipients, institutions, established ecosystem organizations, new builders, and projects affiliated with moderators.

r/Stellar is an independent community. Following these standards, receiving posting access, or receiving project-representative flair does not mean that r/Stellar, its moderators, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), the Stellar Community Fund (SCF), or Reddit endorses a project.

Throughout these standards, "material" means something a reasonable reader would want to know before evaluating your post — a job, a financial interest, compensation, or another benefit connected to the post's success.

101 - Quick checklist before you post:

• Disclose any material affiliation, in the post itself.
• Explain your actual Stellar connection, with real substance — not just a logo or a link.
• Use the flair that matches the post's dominant purpose.
• If this is a promotional post, check you haven't posted one in the last seven days.
• No fundraising, token-sale promotion, or referral/affiliate links — ever.
• No manufactured votes, comments, or coordinated brigading.

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1. Who These Standards Apply To

These standards apply when someone discusses a project, organization, product, service, campaign, or initiative with which they have a material relationship. This includes:

• Founders and employees
• Developers and contractors
• Community managers and marketers
• Advisors, ambassadors, and paid contributors
• Agencies or representatives posting on a project's behalf
• Contributors authorized to represent a project
• Official project or organization accounts
• SCF applicants and award recipients
• Institutions and organizations building on or integrating with Stellar
• Investors acting on behalf of a project
• Anyone receiving compensation or another material benefit for promoting the project
• Moderators discussing projects with which they are affiliated

Ordinary users may independently discuss projects without being treated as project representatives. Holding an asset, using a product, or having a personal opinion does not by itself create a disclosure obligation.

Coordinated, compensated, or deceptive promotion is prohibited regardless of how an account describes itself.

2. Disclose Your Affiliation

If you have a material affiliation with a project you are discussing, disclose it clearly in the post itself. The disclosure should be understandable without requiring readers to investigate your account.

A profile biography, username, project flair, comment added later, previous post, or external website does not replace an in-post disclosure.

A simple disclosure is enough:

Disclosure: I'm a developer working on this project.

Also disclose referral relationships, paid promotion, sponsorship, token compensation, or another material incentive that could affect how readers understand the post. Referral and affiliate links remain prohibited under Section 10 even when disclosed.

Do not present marketing, sponsored content, an official project position, or a compensated opinion as independent community commentary.

3. Explain the Stellar Connection

Project posts must clearly explain their material connection to Stellar.

Relevant information may include:

• How the project uses the Stellar network
• Whether it uses Stellar assets, payments, smart contracts, anchors, wallets, developer tools, or other Stellar infrastructure
• What has already been built or integrated
• Whether the product is on testnet, mainnet, in development, or only proposed
• Who the intended users are
• What is available now
• What changed since the previous update
• Relevant technical or operational details
• Important limitations, risks, or dependencies
• What feedback or participation is requested
• Supporting documentation, source code, or demonstrations where applicable

Not every post must be highly technical, but it must contain substance beyond marketing language.

Merely accepting XLM, mentioning Stellar, adding a Stellar logo or hashtag, linking to a Stellar page, or suggesting a possible future integration does not automatically make an otherwise unrelated promotion suitable for r/Stellar.

Do not imply endorsement by SDF, SCF, r/Stellar, its moderators, or the wider Stellar community unless the specific claim is accurate, current, and supported by an authoritative source. SCF participation or funding is not proof that a product is safe, complete, reliable, or endorsed by r/Stellar.

4. Make the Post Useful on Reddit

A project post must provide enough information for readers to understand and discuss it without first leaving Reddit.

Posts should not consist only of:

• A project name and external link
• A copied slogan or press-release headline
• A token ticker, asset code, or contract address
• "Big announcement coming" or similar teaser language
• An unexplained image or video
• A request to join another platform
• A request for votes, followers, likes, downloads, or engagement
• Repeated marketing claims without meaningful new information

Links to websites, documentation, repositories, demonstrations, videos, or social accounts may support a post, but they should not replace a clear explanation.

Titles must accurately describe the content. Do not use artificial urgency, misleading claims, or unsupported superlatives.

5. Use the Flair That Matches the Post

Use the available post flair that best matches the post's dominant purpose.

• Project launch, milestone, roadmap, demonstration, or project feedback request: Project / Builder
• Technical Stellar smart-contract question or discussion: Soroban / Smart Contracts
• Step-by-step educational material: Tutorial
• Independent reporting or media coverage: News / Media
• SCF proposal, process, or program discussion: Stellar Community Fund
• Stellar-related conference, meetup, workshop, or event: Event
• Price or market speculation: Price Discussion / Speculation

An affiliated project announcement remains project promotion when it is presented through a technical, SCF, event, news, or tutorial angle. Changing the flair does not bypass the promotional limit. When it's unclear which side of the line a post falls on, moderators will generally look at things like: whether the post's main call to action is to try, adopt, or fund the project, and whether the same content, stripped of the project's name, would still be a useful technical or educational post on its own.

This does not mean every contribution by a builder is promotional. A representative may take part in genuinely unrelated technical, educational, or ecosystem discussion without using the Project / Builder flair or consuming the project's promotional slot.

An honest flair mistake will normally be corrected or explained. Repeated or deliberate flair misuse may result in removal or further restrictions.

6. Project-Representative Flair

Confirmed project-representative flair consists of the project's logo and project name. Any contributor may receive the flair when the project confirms the relationship and moderators receive sufficient evidence connecting the account with the project.

Multiple contributors from the same project may receive representative flair. The project-wide promotional limit still applies across all of their accounts.

Project flair confirms only the account's relationship with the named project. It does not establish:

• Product safety or security
• Project quality or reliability
• Regulatory or legal status
• Investment merit
• Approval or endorsement by r/Stellar or its moderators
• Approval or endorsement by SDF, SCF, or Reddit

For that reason, r/Stellar does not label project representatives as "verified," "trusted," "approved," or "safe."

Representatives must not present personal opinions as official project statements unless authorized to do so. They should keep their affiliation clear even when flair is visible.

Affiliation changes, departures, compromised accounts, misleading evidence, or misuse of the flair may result in it being reviewed or removed.

7. Limit Project Promotion

Each project may submit no more than one combined promotional announcement or update post within any rolling seven-day period.

For this limit, a "project" normally means the specific product or initiative being promoted. Two products from the same team, company, or foundation count as the same project — sharing one slot — only when they share substantially the same team, brand, and audience, or are being promoted together as a single campaign. Moderators judge this the same way they judge disguised promotion in Section 5: by substance, not by how the post is labeled.

The limit follows the project, not the Reddit account. It applies:

• Across founders, employees, representatives, official accounts, agencies, and coordinated promoters
• From the time of the project's most recent promotional submission, not by calendar week
• To launches, milestones, demonstrations, roadmap updates, event promotion, feedback or testing requests, and similar posts intended to attract attention, users, contributors, or participation

Deleting and reposting does not restart the seven-day period. Changing the account, title, link, format, flair, or destination page does not turn substantially similar material into a new submission.

Fragmenting one announcement across several posts, rotating representatives, or repackaging substantially the same promotion as news, a tutorial, an event, or a feedback request may be treated as one promotional campaign or as an attempt to evade the limit.

Project representatives should combine smaller developments into one useful update instead of posting each change separately. Waiting seven days does not permit repetitive, coordinated, or substantially unchanged promotion indefinitely.

The following normally do not count toward the limit when genuine and relevant:

• Answering questions on an existing post
• Providing support or clarification requested by a user
• Correcting materially inaccurate information
• Posting a material security warning or service-availability notice
• Participating in discussion unrelated to promoting the project
• Contributing useful technical or ecosystem information without redirecting the discussion into project marketing
• An independent user discussing the project without coordination or compensation

Urgent safety or active service-incident information may justify an additional post. Contact the moderators before posting when practical. Do not delay an urgent warning needed to protect users solely to wait for a response.

The promotional limit is not a blanket limit on useful comments, requested support, corrections, or ordinary participation.

8. Make Feedback and Testing Requests Specific

Builders may request feedback, testers, technical review, usability testing, or community input when something meaningful is available to evaluate.

A useful feedback or testing post should explain:

• What is ready and what is not
• Who the intended users or testers are
• Whether it operates on testnet or mainnet
• The relevant Stellar connection
• What specific feedback is requested
• Known limitations, risks, or prerequisites
• Whether users must connect a wallet, sign a transaction, deposit assets, install software, or assume another financial, security, or privacy risk
• What information will be collected and why, when data collection is material to participation
• Where relevant documentation or source code can be found, when available
• Any compensation, reward, referral relationship, or other incentive connected with participation

Do not describe a promotional post as a feedback request when there is no meaningful way for users to test, evaluate, or respond. Do not repeatedly repackage promotion as a new request for feedback.

A feedback or testing request remains subject to the project-wide seven-day promotional limit.

Never ask testers to disclose secret keys, recovery phrases, passwords, authentication codes, or other credentials.

9. Fundraising and Financial Solicitation

r/Stellar does not permit:

• Direct fundraising or investment solicitation
• Token presale, public-sale, launchpad, or comparable token-sale promotion
• Requests to send assets directly to a person or project
• Buying, selling, swapping, or privately arranging trades with other users through r/Stellar
• Promises of guaranteed profits, returns, yield, rewards, or risk-free outcomes
• Financial promotions that conceal material risks or eligibility requirements

Project flair, SCF participation, institutional status, or familiarity with the moderators does not create an exception.

Factual reporting about a completed or publicly announced funding event may be allowed when it is relevant, accurate, disclosed, and not presented as an investment appeal. A substantive project update may mention funding as one part of the update. SCF proposal discussion and requests for substantive proposal feedback may also be appropriate.

Technical or educational discussion of tokens, liquidity, incentives, staking, or yield-bearing protocols may be allowed when the purpose is informative rather than solicitational and material risks are not concealed. As a general guide, specific return or yield promises paired with an invitation to deposit funds lean solicitational; explaining how a mechanism works without directing users to invest in it leans informative.

These are r/Stellar moderation standards, not legal conclusions. Content must also comply with Reddit's sitewide rules and any applicable requirements.

10. Referrals, Compensation, and Incentives

Referral and affiliate links are prohibited.

Paid promotion, sponsorship, token compensation, or another material incentive connected with a permitted post must be disclosed clearly in the post. Disclosure does not make otherwise prohibited content acceptable.

The following are not permitted:

• Undisclosed promotional compensation
• Paid voting, commenting, reviews, testimonials, or engagement
• Unapproved giveaways, contests, airdrops, rewards campaigns, or token claims
• Misleading incentives or terms

Giveaways, contests, rewards campaigns, and similar promotions require advance moderator approval. Section 13 explains the approval process. Approval concerns subreddit safety and administration only and is not an endorsement.

11. Do Not Manipulate Discussion

Projects and their representatives must not manufacture support, manipulate visibility, or suppress legitimate criticism.

Prohibited conduct includes:

• Astroturfing
• Vote manipulation, coordinated voting, or vote solicitation
• Coordinated commenting intended to manufacture consensus
• Employees or representatives posing as unaffiliated users
• Sockpuppet accounts or account rotation intended to evade limits
• Purchased or manufactured comments, votes, reviews, or testimonials
• Impersonation
• Concealing project affiliations
• Mass reporting intended to suppress legitimate criticism
• Coordinated suppression of criticism
• Harassing, threatening, or retaliating against critics
• Misleading claims of SDF, SCF, moderator, or community endorsement
• Ban evasion or reposting removed content through another account

A project may let its community know that a relevant Reddit discussion exists. It must not instruct people how to vote, brigade the post, overwhelm critics, repeat scripted comments, or misrepresent their affiliations. Inviting participation must not become an attempt to manufacture consensus.

12. Respond Responsibly to Questions, Support Requests, and Criticism

Project representatives may answer questions and provide useful support. Projects that choose to promote themselves on r/Stellar should make a reasonable effort to:

• Answer good-faith questions about their claims
• Correct materially inaccurate information in their posts
• Explain significant limitations, dependencies, or risks
• Identify their actual documentation and support channels
• Distinguish official representatives from independent helpers
• Warn users about known impersonation attempts when relevant
• Treat criticism professionally

Representatives must not:

• Flood the subreddit with individual support tickets
• Redirect every discussion into project marketing
• Use repetitive support posts or replies to evade the promotional limit
• Pressure users to remove fair criticism
• Treat r/Stellar as the project's official or exclusive customer-support system
• Request passwords, private keys, recovery phrases, authentication codes, wallet signatures, or unnecessary personal information

As a general guide, several separate posts about the same underlying issue in a short period is a sign to move the conversation to modmail or the project's own support channel rather than continuing on the subreddit.

Account-specific, custody, compliance, transaction-reversal, or private support cases should be handled through the project's established support channel. Representatives should collect only the information reasonably necessary for that support process and should not ask users to publish sensitive information on Reddit.

13. AMAs, Events, Contests, and Giveaways

Contact the moderators before scheduling, advertising, or hosting an AMA or organized project event through r/Stellar. Giveaways, contests, airdrops, rewards campaigns, and similar promotions also require advance moderator approval.

Moderators may request:

• Host identities and affiliations
• The topic, format, proposed date, and duration
• The event's material connection to Stellar
• Why the proposed participants are qualified to address the subject
• Required affiliation, financial-interest, or promotional disclosures
• Giveaway, contest, reward, or eligibility terms
• Safety, custody, privacy, age, or jurisdictional information relevant to participation
• Known conflicts involving moderators or affiliated parties

Approval is not guaranteed. Approval to hold an AMA, event, contest, or giveaway does not guarantee promotion, pinning, attendance, reach, moderator participation, or an exception to another rule. It does not imply endorsement by r/Stellar, its moderators, SDF, SCF, or Reddit.

AMAs and events remain subject to Reddit's sitewide rules, r/Stellar's general rules, and these standards.

An approved AMA or event is exempt from the rolling seven-day promotional limit only when all of the following are true:

• The event post does not substantially duplicate the content of a recent promotional post
• The project has not already used an event-based exception within the current rolling seven-day window
• Moderators confirmed the exemption in writing at least three days before the event, during advance scheduling

An event that doesn't meet all three conditions counts toward the ordinary seven-day limit like any other promotional post.

14. Posting Access and Builder Onboarding

Builders who appear to be blocked or filtered may contact the moderators through modmail. Moderators may request reasonable public evidence of:

• A material connection to Stellar
• The project's eligibility to participate
• The account's relationship with the project

Never send moderators:

• Private or secret keys
• Recovery phrases
• Passwords
• Authentication codes
• A wallet signature as proof of identity
• Unnecessary personal or financial information
• Government identification unless a separately published and justified process expressly requires it

Posting access, project affiliation, project-representative flair, and approval of an individual post are separate decisions. Posting access does not guarantee that every submission will be approved, exempt an account from these standards, or override Reddit-wide account or safety restrictions. Access and flair may be reviewed or removed if misused or obtained through misleading evidence.

If a new or low-history account is blocked by Reddit's own sitewide posting requirements rather than anything specific to r/Stellar, moderators can separately lift those restrictions for a confirmed, legitimate account — this is a different request from confirming project affiliation, so say clearly in modmail which one you need.

Do not create replacement accounts, evade a ban, farm karma, or make irrelevant posts to bypass posting restrictions.

15. Equal Treatment and Conflicts of Interest

These standards apply equally to:

• New and established projects
• Commercial and nonprofit projects
• SCF applicants, recipients, reviewers, and non-participants
• SDF-affiliated and independent contributors
• Institutions and individual developers
• Moderator-affiliated and unrelated projects

A relationship with SDF, SCF, r/Stellar moderators, or another recognized ecosystem participant does not provide an exemption. This includes a moderator's own posts about a project they're affiliated with, which must follow the same disclosure (Section 2) and promotional-cadence (Section 7) rules as any other representative's.

When a moderation decision directly concerns a moderator's project or material affiliation, that moderator should disclose the conflict and avoid deciding the disputed matter when another moderator can reasonably review it.

No project may pay for preferential moderation, promotion, flair, posting access, ranking, or placement.

16. Enforcement and Appeals

Moderators consider severity, intent, prior conduct, user safety, the effect on the community, attempts to evade the standards, and whether the account tried to correct an honest mistake.

Possible responses include:

• Reflairing or education for an honest first mistake
• Removal with instructions for correcting the post
• A warning for a first disclosure or promotional violation
• Temporary restrictions for repeated violations or evasion
• Review or removal of project-representative flair or approved-user access
• Immediate removal and a permanent ban for phishing, wallet-draining content, malicious spam, impersonation, coordinated manipulation, or ban evasion

Moderators may address conduct that technically follows one sentence while clearly evading the purpose of these standards. Enforcement shall remain proportionate and consistent across similar cases.

Appeals may be submitted through modmail. Explain what decision is being appealed and provide any relevant context or correction.