How to Market on r/sysadmin
A community for system administrators discussing enterprise IT: servers, Active Directory, cloud infrastructure, security, automation, and the daily life of managing IT systems.
r/sysadmin Rules & Self-Promotion Policy
Understanding the rules is critical for successful marketing. Here's what you need to know about r/sysadmin.
Strict Self-Promotion Policy
This subreddit has strict rules against self-promotion. Product mentions should be rare and only when genuinely helpful.
Community Rules
- 1No vendor spam or product promotions
- 2Keep content relevant to sysadmin work
- 3Be professional and respectful
- 4No low-effort posts
- 5Search before asking common questions
How to Write for r/sysadmin
Technical and world-weary. Sysadmins have seen it all—the good tools, the bad vendors, the impossible requests. Authenticity and technical depth earn respect. Corporate buzzwords are mocked.
Best Practices for r/sysadmin
Maximize your impact by understanding when, what, and how to post.
Best Times to Post
- Weekday Morning Est
- Lunch Hours Est
- Late Night Est
Posts stay relevant for about 12-24 hours
Content That Works
- Technical deep-dives on solutions
- Automation and scripting shares
- War stories and incident post-mortems
- Career and workplace discussions
Common Flairs
Who's Here
System administrators, IT managers, and infrastructure engineers. Enterprise-focused. Technically deep but appreciate work-life balance discussions. Skeptical of vendors, loyal to what works.
Common Mistakes on r/sysadmin
Avoid these pitfalls that get marketers banned or ignored.
Promoting IT tools without genuine sysadmin experience
r/sysadmin is one of the most vendor-hostile communities. They've been marketed to relentlessly and have developed strong immunity.
Instead
If you have a tool, participate in discussions genuinely. Share technical knowledge. Let your expertise earn trust before any product mention.
Using marketing language
Words like "synergy," "leverage," and "enterprise-grade" trigger immediate rejection. Sysadmins speak technically, not commercially.
Instead
Be direct and technical. "This saves 2 hours per week on patching" beats "streamlines your workflow."
Oversimplifying enterprise complexity
Enterprise IT involves legacy systems, politics, compliance, and constraints. Simple solutions often ignore real-world complexity.
Instead
Acknowledge constraints. "This works if you can..." or "Assuming your environment allows..." shows you understand reality.
Treating all sysadmins as identical
The community includes Windows admins, Linux admins, cloud specialists, and generalists. Solutions aren't universal.
Instead
Specify your context: "In our Windows environment..." or "For Azure-heavy shops..."
Ignoring the human element
Sysadmins deal with unreasonable users, bad management, and burnout. Pure technical content misses what they really deal with.
Instead
Acknowledge the human challenges. War stories that include the political/human elements resonate strongly.
Post Formats That Work on r/sysadmin
These content formats consistently perform well in this community.
Technical Solution
Example Format
""Solved [problem] in our environment. Context: [setup]. Solution: [approach]. Caveats: [limitations]. Happy to answer questions.""
Why It Works
Shows real implementation. Acknowledges context. Offers engagement.
War Story
Example Format
""[Incident] happened today. What went wrong: [details]. How we fixed it: [resolution]. What we're changing: [prevention].""
Why It Works
Learning from failure is valued. Post-mortem format is familiar. Prevention tips help others.
Automation Share
Example Format
""Wrote [script/automation] to handle [task]. Before: [manual effort]. After: [automated result]. Code: [link or snippet].""
Why It Works
Practical and reusable. Shows the before/after value. Sharing code is generous.
Related Communities & Use Cases
Expand your reach with similar subreddits and see who uses r/sysadmin for marketing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about marketing on r/sysadmin
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