Promotional Reply Editorial Audit Template
Check whether a proposed community response genuinely answers the question or mainly funnels readers toward your product.
When to use this template
Use this where AI-assisted review is allowed and a draft contains useful information mixed with a product pitch.
Choose another approach when: The destination prohibits AI-edited text, the underlying contribution is irrelevant, or you want to camouflage promotion so moderators will not detect it.
Gather these inputs
- The exact question, existing replies and proposed draft.
- Current community rules and the writer’s actual affiliation.
- The useful information the reply can deliver without conversion.
Copy and adapt the template
Edit the text below and copy it into your own document. Edits stay in this browser field and are not submitted or saved by this page.
Worked example
Illustrative example, not a Crany customer result. Replace every example detail with facts you can verify.
An illustrative draft explains one useful handoff step but ends with three paragraphs promoting a founder’s app and asking readers to join a list. The audit keeps the practical explanation, adds an original small example and removes the unnecessary conversion request. If the community prohibits the remaining product mention, that mention is removed too. The goal is an honest useful contribution, not a pitch disguised with softer language. On a human-only platform the writer must prepare their own text without this AI editing workflow.
How to use it
- Evaluate the draft against the reader’s task and exact destination rules.
- Remove claims and links that mainly serve exposure rather than the answer.
- Confirm standalone usefulness, factual accuracy and human approval before any permitted publication.
Check before using it
- The audit does not teach concealment of affiliation or intent.
- Removing a link is not assumed to make an irrelevant pitch useful.
- A platform ban on AI editing ends this workflow for that destination.
What to measure
Review whether the final approved contribution answers the question in place. Avoid treating lack of removal or a few votes as proof that a promotional approach is appropriate everywhere.
Research and sources
The references support relevant participation and prohibit spam or generated HN text. The audit is an original editorial tool for destinations that permit this kind of assistance.
- Reddit: Spam — checked 2026-10-23. Repeated or unsolicited mass engagement and repetitive promotion are prohibited; moderators apply community-specific boundaries.
- Reddit: Reddiquette — checked 2026-10-23. Read community rules, contribute relevant original information and avoid vote solicitation; local rules still apply.
- Hacker News Guidelines — checked 2026-10-23. Human-written participation, original sources, substantive conversation and no automated posting or vote solicitation.
About Crany
Crany is an AI marketing co-founder in development for software founders and vibe coders, designed to strategize, execute approved marketing and improve based on results. This free resource is usable independently of the product. Join the public waitlist.