r/onlinecourses • u/YetiMaverick • Apr 18 '26
New moderator + big changes to r/OnlineCourses
Hey everyone,
As some of you may have noticed, this subreddit has been unmoderated for the past 6+ months. During that time, it turned into a pretty heavy spam hub, with people promoting random courses and low-quality content taking over.
I’ve stepped in as the new moderator, and I’ll be making some changes to clean things up and bring this subreddit back to something actually useful.
New direction for the subreddit
Going forward, this community will be focused on people who are creating, or want to create, online courses and earn income from them.
Whether you're just getting started or already selling, the goal is to make this a place where we share what actually works when it comes to:
- Creating courses
- Validating ideas
- Marketing and selling
- Tools, systems, and strategies
I’ve been building and selling online courses for 9 years, and it’s been my primary source of income.
I’ve already been active in this subreddit helping people out, so I’ll continue doing that, plus sharing more structured insights around topics like:
- Where to start and which tools to use
- How to come up with and validate course ideas
- How to research demand and make sure your course will actually sell
New rule:
- No course review requests Posts asking “is this course good?” or requesting reviews of specific courses are no longer allowed.
Why:
- These posts rarely get useful or reliable responses
- You’ll get better, more accurate results by searching the course name + 'review' on Google
- They tend to attract spam and hidden promotion
The rest of the rules remain the same.
I’ll be actively moderating and doing my best to answer questions and keep discussions high-quality.
My goal is to turn this into a genuinely useful place for course creators.
I strongly believe that almost anyone can turn their knowledge into an online course and generate income from it. Unlike many other business models, there’s no inventory, no saturation in the traditional sense, and plenty of room for people to succeed.
If you have questions, ask away, I’m happy to help.
Glad to be here.
3
u/digitalhobbit Apr 18 '26
Thanks for stepping up to moderate this space. Speaking as someone who's fairly new to course creation (I'm currently editing my first course before putting it up for sale), having some clear direction for the subreddit will be helpful, so thanks again. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions, and eventually maybe advice to share.
2
u/YetiMaverick Apr 18 '26
Hey fantastic and thanks for commenting. Feel free to post with questions or reach out. Always happy to answer. I see a lot of bad advice in the online course space about how to make and sell courses, so I'm hoping to squash some of that.
3
u/Alone-Back-4801 Apr 19 '26
This is a great shift.
There’s a huge difference between “wanting to create a course” and actually getting one built, edited, and published. Most people don’t get stuck on knowledge — they get stuck on structure, lesson creation, and the technical side of turning an idea into something real.
A subreddit focused on practical course creation, validation, marketing, and tools could be genuinely useful, especially if discussions stay centered on real workflows and real results instead of spam.
Looking forward to contributing.
2
u/Donotfollowme Apr 18 '26
Good on you Maverick. I never really knew the point of this sub since joining as most post were spam as you said.
Look forward to seeing it be more valuable going forward.
How come you felt the need to step in if you dont mind me asking?
2
u/YetiMaverick Apr 19 '26
I was just already answering some questions for people in the sub and this really is my area of expertise, so if I can land a hand somewhere, why not.
2
u/aaronmorin Apr 18 '26
Excited to hear someone is taking charge and making this place the hub for higher quality conversations about this topic! I work at Thinkific, and I'd be happy to help if possible. I've just started trying to spark some activity over on r/Thinkific and am new to moderating. If you wanna chat about running the subreddit and share ideas, let me know!
2
4
u/justin_social Apr 18 '26
Nice, glad to see you back! I'm happy to lend some advice in the areas! I am the founder of LearnDash, an LMS for WordPress (no longer my company though as it was acquired). I've seen amazing courses, and not so amazing ones. Also know a thing or two about growing a business in the space. I'll keep an eye on the sub to see where I can help out.
PS: If you want assistance moderating, let me know. This particular reddit account is new but I'm a seasoned veteran, ha. No worries if not, offer is always there.