Doubled user signup rate with surprising Reddit strategy

Building a following for hnjn.org, a free forever weekly newsletter that compiles the top posts from Hacker News.

I noticed the best Reddit promotion strategy was to never promote; that just led to getting banned or downvoted. Spent weeks trying to be sneakier and sneakier about it, but I always got caught.

One day I gave up on Reddit advertising. I just started participating as a positive value-add to the communities. Surprisingly, when I focused entirely on adding value — recommending a resource to someone who's struggling, or being helpful in general — the community began to positively respond and begin to ask about my projects and sign up for them.

TLDR; give before you ask!