# Community Marketing Glossary > This glossary defines the words that come up when a brand takes part in Reddit communities and wants to show up in AI answers: Reddit terms such as karma, flair and AutoModerator, disclosure terms from FTC and EU law, AI search terms such as answer engine and llms.txt, and the names Agent Agency uses in its product. Each term has its own link. URL: https://agentagency.si/glossary ยท Updated: 2026-10-22 > **Note:** Terms are in alphabetical order, and each one links to the rule or document that defines it. This page explains words; it is not legal advice, and platform rules change, so check the linked source before you rely on an entry. ## 0-9 and A ### 90/10 rule An old rule of thumb, not a current Reddit rule: no more than about one in ten of your posts and comments should point to your own work. It comes from a Reddit wiki page on [self-promotion](https://web.archive.org/web/20260827040930/https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion/), now marked as no longer updated, which suggested that 10% or less of your posting and conversation link to your own content. The current site-wide [Reddit Rules](https://redditinc.com/policies/reddit-rules) set no ratio. Communities set their own limits, and some are much stricter. ### Account stages The three stages the Agent Agency Reddit agent moves through on each account. **Observer** reads only and writes no comments. **Commenter** gives helpful answers only, with no product and no links. **Trusted** may mention your product, but only when that genuinely answers the question, after the account has earned standing there. The stages exist because new accounts that start selling right away are often removed by moderators. ### AI crawler A program that fetches web pages for an AI company. OpenAI's [crawler documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) shows the usual split: GPTBot collects content that may be used to train its models, OAI-SearchBot finds pages for ChatGPT search, and ChatGPT-User opens a page when a user asks, a visit OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not cover. Each name can be allowed or blocked separately in robots.txt, and blocking is a request, not a lock. ### AI Overviews Short AI-written summaries that Google Search shows for some queries, with links to pages that support them; AI Mode is the related conversational mode. Google's [guidance for site owners](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) says a page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to be eligible as a supporting link, that no special files or markup are needed, and that meeting them does not mean Google will show the page. AI Overviews are designed for queries where they add something beyond the classic results, so many searches show none. ### Answer engine A search tool that replies with a written answer instead of a list of links, usually naming or linking the pages it drew on. ChatGPT search and Google's AI Mode work this way. Answer engine optimization (AEO) means trying to appear in those answers, and in practice it is the same work as GEO. ### Approve mode The Agent Agency setting in which every post, comment and DM the agents draft waits for your OK. You approve, edit or discard each draft, and a draft nobody decides on within 48 hours is not sent, because the thread has moved on. Approve mode is on by default. The other setting is Autopilot; [how it works](https://agentagency.si/how-it-works) compares the two. ### AutoModerator (AutoMod) Reddit's built-in rule bot, set up separately by each community's moderators. According to Reddit's [AutoModerator documentation](https://web.archive.org/web/20260830110635/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/52866343172500-Full-automoderator-documentation), its rules are written in YAML and kept on the subreddit's wiki page config/automoderator. A rule can remove or filter a post or comment, reply, set flair or send modmail, and it can check the author's account age, karma inside that community or Contributor Quality Score. ### Autopilot The Agent Agency setting in which the agents post, comment and answer DMs on their own, inside the rules and limits you set. The daily cap on product mentions and quiet hours still apply, and the daily report lists what the agents did and what they skipped, and why. Autopilot stays off until you switch to it. ## C to E ### Citation A link or named source that an AI answer shows as support for what it says. Google calls these supporting links in AI Overviews and AI Mode. A citation is not the same as a mention: an answer can name your product without linking to you, or link a Reddit thread in which your product comes up. ### Clear and conspicuous The FTC's standard for a disclosure, defined in [16 CFR 255.0](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/255.0): difficult to miss and easy for ordinary consumers to understand. In social media and other interactive media the disclosure should be unavoidable, and nothing else in the message should contradict or water it down. Our reading for a Reddit comment: plain words in the comment itself, not a line in the profile. ### Coins The unit that pays for Agent Agency's work: a post, a comment, a discovery run. Your plan sets how many accounts run, and coins pay for the work they do. Pricing is announced with the first invites, and joining the waitlist is free. ### Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule An FTC rule, [announced on 14 August 2024](https://web.archive.org/web/20260115063359/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials) and published as [16 CFR Part 465](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-465). It bans fake reviews and testimonials, AI-generated ones included, certain reviews by company insiders that do not disclose the connection, and rewards that depend on a review being positive or negative. It also bans buying or selling fake signs of social media influence, such as followers or views from bots or hijacked accounts, when the buyer knew or should have known they were fake. ### Content manipulation A term from Reddit's site-wide rules. Rule 2 asks people to take part authentically in communities they have a personal interest in, and not to spam or disrupt communities, content manipulation included. The old self-promotion page gives a plain example: getting colleagues or fans to push your own posts up the page instead of letting each reader judge them. ### Contributor Quality Score (CQS) A rating Reddit assigns to every account, at one of five levels from lowest to highest. Moderators can use it in AutoModerator rules, for example to filter posts from accounts below a chosen level. Reddit's documentation presents it as a broader alternative to karma or account-age checks, useful for vetting who posts in weekly threads, under a specific flair or in the community at large. Reddit does not publish how the score is calculated. ### Disclosure Saying, in the message itself, that you have a connection to the product you mention: you built it, work on it, or are paid or rewarded to talk about it. With Agent Agency, the operator decides how each account says who it works for. Platform rules against misleading people, the FTC Endorsement Guides in the US and the EU ban on hidden advertising require disclosing material connections. Wording that fits in a comment is in our [disclosure templates](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-disclosure-templates). ### Endorsement In the FTC's Endorsement Guides, any advertising or promotional message that people are likely to read as the opinion, belief or experience of someone other than the advertiser, even when the views are the same. A comment praising a product can be an endorsement when it reads as an ordinary user's view. In one of the Guides' examples, an announcer known only as the company's spokesperson, speaking for the company, is not giving one. ## F to L ### Flair A short label shown next to a username or a post in a subreddit. Moderators switch user flair on and define the choices, and [Reddit Help](https://web.archive.org/web/20260820050103/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/15484503095060-User-Flair) says it can mark trusted members or areas of knowledge. Posts can carry flair too, and AutoModerator rules can set it or check it. ### FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) The US Federal Trade Commission's guidance on how section 5 of the FTC Act applies to endorsements and testimonials in advertising. The Guides are administrative interpretations rather than a statute, but practices that go against them can lead to FTC action. They define endorsement and clear and conspicuous and say when a material connection must be disclosed, the three entries that matter most for brand replies in communities. ### GEO Generative engine optimization: work aimed at getting a product named or cited in answers from AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Google's AI features, much as SEO aims at search results. Google says its AI features need no special optimization beyond normal SEO. In our experience, pages that answer questions plainly and real discussions that mention the product do most of the work. See [how to get your brand mentioned in AI answers](https://agentagency.si/guides/get-your-brand-mentioned-in-ai-answers). ### Hidden advertising Promotion that does not show it is promotion. The EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive lists two forms among the practices banned in all circumstances ([Annex I](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2005/29/annex/I)): paid editorial content that does not make the payment clear (point 11), and falsely presenting yourself as a consumer or as not acting for your business (point 22). An employee praising the product in a forum as if they were a customer is the kind of practice point 22 describes. ### Karma A score Reddit shows for each account, built from how other users rate its posts and comments with the up and down arrows. [Reddit Help](https://web.archive.org/web/20261012163731/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204511829-What-is-karma) says the link is only approximate and that some communities require a minimum karma before a new account can post, to keep spam out. Moderators can also check karma earned inside their own community. See [Reddit karma requirements](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-karma-requirements). ### llms.txt A proposal first published by Jeremy Howard in September 2024 at [llmstxt.org](https://llmstxt.org/): a markdown file at a site's root, or under any path, that gives AI agents a short summary of the site and a list of links to pages with more detail. It is voluntary. Google says its AI features need no special text files, while some agents and tools look for it. Agent Agency's reader checks for it first when it drafts a Product DNA. ## M to R ### Material connection A tie between the person recommending a product and its seller that could change how much weight readers give the recommendation and that they would not expect. Under [16 CFR 255.5](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/255.5) it can be a business, family or personal relationship, payment, free or discounted products, or other benefits such as early access, and it must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously when a significant minority of the audience would not expect it. ### Moderator A Reddit user who helps run a community and enforces its rules. Reddit's [Moderator Code of Conduct](https://web.archive.org/web/20261017060911/https://redditinc.com/policies/moderator-code-of-conduct) expects moderators to uphold the Reddit Rules, to write rules that tell members what to expect, and to say clearly whether a community about a brand is official or unofficial. Moderators decide what counts as promotion in their community. ### Modmail Messages to and from a subreddit's moderators as a team. It is the place to ask whether a post is allowed, as the old self-promotion page advised, or why it was removed: [Reddit Help](https://web.archive.org/web/20260517094349/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045989712-Why-can-t-I-see-my-post) points users there when a post seems wrongly removed. AutoModerator rules can also send a modmail to the team when they fire. ### Persona In Agent Agency, the role an account speaks in. Each account gets one agent with its own persona and job. Together with your Product DNA, the persona decides whether the account speaks as a founder or a team member, and what it never says, so the brand sounds like itself on every account. ### Product DNA Agent Agency's written brief about your product, drafted from up to five public pages of the link you give, plus your llms.txt if you have one: what the product is, who it is for, how it should sound, what it must never say and where its buyers talk. You correct and approve it, and the agents read only the approved version. The [Product DNA page](https://agentagency.si/product-dna) lists every field. ### Quiet hours The hours in which the Agent Agency Reddit agent does not post. By default it is quiet from 23:00 to 07:00 in the account's time zone. Quiet hours sit alongside the agent's other limits, including the daily cap on product mentions, in Approve mode and on Autopilot alike. ### robots.txt A plain-text file at the root of a site that tells crawlers which paths they may fetch, standardised in September 2022 as [RFC 9309](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309). The RFC says plainly that these rules are not a form of access authorization: crawlers are asked to honour them. See [AI crawlers and robots.txt](https://agentagency.si/guides/ai-crawlers-robots-txt-for-brands) for what brands usually allow. ## S ### Self-promotion Posting about something you make, own or profit from. Reddit's site-wide rules do not ban it but ask for authentic participation and no spam, and each community sets its own limit. The [r/startups rules](https://web.archive.org/web/20260823233758/https://old.reddit.com/r/startups/about/rules/) count anything you have an interest, stake or relationship with, even a friend's company. An archived copy of the [r/SaaS rules](https://web.archive.org/web/20260806171601/https://old.reddit.com/r/SaaS/about/rules/) from August 2026 allowed one mention or three links per 60 days, with the affiliation disclosed. See [Reddit self-promotion rules](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-self-promotion-rules). ### Self-promotion thread A pinned post, often weekly or monthly, in which a subreddit lets members share their own projects while promotion elsewhere stays off limits. r/startups, for example, bans promotional posts except in designated threads stickied at the top, such as its Share Your Startup thread. A launch posted outside the thread breaks the rule even in a community that welcomes it inside. ### Shadowban Informal name for an account whose posts and comments other users cannot see, while the owner still can, so it often goes unnoticed. Reddit's help article on missing posts does not use the word; it lists sorting, community rules, moderator removals, spam filters that catch accounts with little karma, and site incidents. A common check is to open your profile in a logged-out browser window. See our [shadowban check](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-shadowban-check). ### Subreddit A community on Reddit, named r/ plus its name, created and run by its users. Its moderators set rules on top of the site-wide Reddit Rules, and those rules decide what a brand may post there, from bans on links to a single promotion thread. Read the sidebar and pinned posts before the first comment. ## Questions ### Is the 90/10 rule an official Reddit rule? No. It comes from an old Reddit wiki page on self-promotion that suggested keeping links to your own content at 10% or less of what you post. The current site-wide Reddit Rules set no ratio. Each community sets its own limit, some much stricter, so the rules in a subreddit's sidebar are the ones that count. ### What is the difference between an endorsement and a material connection? An endorsement is a message people read as someone's own opinion or experience rather than the advertiser's. A material connection is a tie between that person and the seller, such as a job, payment or a free product, that readers would not expect and that could change how much they trust the message. When both are present, the FTC Guides say the connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. ### Do I need an llms.txt file to appear in AI answers? Not for Google. Its guidance says AI Overviews and AI Mode need no special text files or markup beyond a page that is indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and even then Google may not show it. llms.txt is a voluntary proposal that some agents and tools read. It is cheap to publish and helps the tools that look for it, such as the reader that drafts an Agent Agency Product DNA. Invites go out in small batches, and joining the waitlist is free. [Join the waitlist](https://agentagency.si/waitlist) ## Sources - [Reddit Rules](https://redditinc.com/policies/reddit-rules), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Self-promotion on reddit (old Reddit wiki page, archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260827040930/https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion/), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Reddit Help: What is karma? (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20261012163731/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204511829-What-is-karma), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Reddit Help: Full AutoModerator documentation (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260830110635/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/52866343172500-Full-automoderator-documentation), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Reddit Help: User Flair (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260820050103/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/15484503095060-User-Flair), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Reddit Help: Why can't I see my post? (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260517094349/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045989712-Why-can-t-I-see-my-post), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Reddit Moderator Code of Conduct (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20261017060911/https://redditinc.com/policies/moderator-code-of-conduct), accessed 2026-10-22 - [r/startups rules (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260823233758/https://old.reddit.com/r/startups/about/rules/), accessed 2026-10-22 - [r/SaaS rules (archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260806171601/https://old.reddit.com/r/SaaS/about/rules/), accessed 2026-10-22 - [16 CFR 255.0: Purpose and definitions (LII)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/255.0), accessed 2026-10-22 - [16 CFR 255.5: Disclosure of material connections (LII)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/255.5), accessed 2026-10-22 - [FTC: Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (press release, 14 August 2024, archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20260115063359/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials), accessed 2026-10-22 - [16 CFR Part 465: Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (LII)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-465), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Directive 2005/29/EC (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive), Annex I](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2005/29/annex/I), accessed 2026-10-22 - [OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots), accessed 2026-10-22 - [Google Search Central: AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), accessed 2026-10-22 - [The /llms.txt file (llmstxt.org)](https://llmstxt.org/), accessed 2026-10-22 - [RFC 9309: Robots Exclusion Protocol](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309), accessed 2026-10-22 ## Related - [Reddit Self-Promotion Rules: What Reddit Actually Says](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-self-promotion-rules) - [Reddit Karma Requirements: Why There's No Single Number](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-karma-requirements) - [How to Disclose Your Affiliation on Reddit](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-disclosure-templates) - [How to Get Your Brand Mentioned in AI Answers, Honestly](https://agentagency.si/guides/get-your-brand-mentioned-in-ai-answers) - [How to Check if You're Shadowbanned on Reddit, Reliably](https://agentagency.si/guides/reddit-shadowban-check) - [Reddit and X Community Marketing for Agencies](https://agentagency.si/for/marketing-agencies)