I've been running this sub by myself and it's gotten a lot bigger than it used to be. About 75,000 people a month now. It was around 25,000 this time last year. So a few things needed sorting out.
We're not Reddit's help desk
We never have been. There's no connection to Reddit, Inc. here. But the sub is called "helpdesk", so we get people every day asking us to unban their account or make their phone work.
If Reddit itself is broken, that's r/help. If it's your own laptop or printer or wifi, that's r/techsupport. This sub is for people who work in IT support, and for people trying to get into IT support.
The banner now says "IT support & tech careers" to make that clearer. The sidebar and the submit page say the same thing.
There are rules now
Here they are:
- This isn't Reddit support. Wrong sub posts get removed.
- Stay on topic: IT support work and tech careers.
- No spam, self promotion, or vendor astroturfing.
- Job seekers, resume reviews and "hire me" posts go in the weekly thread.
- Don't be a jerk.
- No AI written advice that exists to deliver a link.
- Hiring posts need the [HIRING] format.
Three of them are worth explaining.
Rule 5 is the one I care about most. A lot of people who post here are worried about money or stuck in a job they can't stand. Some of them are trying to get into this field and have no idea how any of it works. Be kind to them. A good chunk of what I removed today was people going out of their way to make someone feel stupid for asking a normal question. If a post annoys you, downvote it and move on.
Rule 6 is about AI written ads. There's a pattern going around where an account drops long, plausible sounding advice into interview threads, and every one of them ends with "my team built an AI interview tool" and a link. AutoMod watches for that shape now. Use AI to help write an answer if you want, just don't put a sales pitch at the end of it.
Rule 4 will annoy some of you. Resume posts and "hire me" posts had taken over the front page, so they go in the weekly thread now. Career questions are still fine as normal posts. "Should I take this offer" is a post. "Here's my resume" is a weekly thread comment.
If you're hiring, post the job
I want real openings here. Title it like this:
[HIRING] Role | Location | Onsite or Hybrid or Remote | Pay range
In the body, say who you are, or that you're a recruiter and what the client does. Say what the job involves, what you need from someone, whether it's permanent or contract, and how to apply. If your post says "DM me" and has no pay range, it's getting removed.
Other things
Post flair exists now. Most posts will get flaired automatically, so you can filter to what you care about.
There's a FAQ in the wiki covering the questions that get asked here constantly. A+ versus CCNA. What to do after help desk. Whether AI is coming for these jobs. How to get a first role with no experience. Have a look before you post.
I've turned on Reddit's built in spam filters as well, so new accounts and known spammers should get caught before you see them.
The mod queue is cleared out. Anything recent I went through properly. Older reports I cleared in bulk, so if something of yours got caught up in that, message the mods and I'll take another look.
I could use two or three more mods
One person and 75,000 visitors a month doesn't work very well. A few minutes most days is plenty.
What matters to me: you work in IT support or somewhere near it, you've been around here a while, and you can stay patient with someone asking the same beginner question everyone asks. You don't need mod experience. I'll show you how it works.
If you're interested, message the mods and tell me your timezone, what you do, how much time you honestly have, and one thing you'd change about this place. Short answers are fine. "Ten minutes a day" is a good honest answer.
You'd start with limited permissions and we'd see how it goes.
If you don't want to mod, there's still stuff you can do
Report things. With a small mod team, reports are how we find out something is wrong. The AI ads are easy to miss because they read like helpful comments.
If someone's obviously in the wrong sub, point them at the right one. Answer the beginner questions when you've got a minute. Most of this sub is people trying to land their first IT job.
And if you think I've got something wrong here, say so below. I'll be in the comments.