r/SaltLakeCity: rules, karma requirements and posting culture
The main subreddit for Salt Lake City and the valley: photos, recommendations, local news and what was that noise. Relaxed, but strict about dates in titles and ads.
Salt Lake City · Open on Reddit
- Members
- 264k
- Created
- 2009
- New posts a day
- 48.3
- Comments on a typical post
- 8
- New posts removed
- 23%
The short answer
r/SaltLakeCity publishes no karma or account age requirement. About three quarters of recent posts stayed up, and the rest were split between Reddit's filters, AutoModerator holds and moderator removals. The rules that catch people are specific: no vague dates like "today" or "tonight" in a title, a real date on every event post, proof you searched before asking, and no advertising posts at all. It is a friendly local room, with a sharp edge when the topic is state politics or bad drivers.
Who posts here
You need no expertise, only something tied to Salt Lake or Utah. Regulars use local shorthand without explaining it: grid addresses, neighborhood names, the canyons, the lake. Questions that have been asked many times, like where to live, where to eat or where to find a rental, are covered by the sidebar searches and the wiki, and the rules say a question with no sign of research may be removed.
- Residents asking for a specific recommendation: a shop, a venue, a bar showing a certain game.
- Locals posting photos of the mountains, the weather, the sky and odd things seen around town.
- People asking what is going on right now: a siren, a road closure, a crowd downtown.
- Newcomers, visitors and people weighing a move or a job offer.
- Politically engaged locals sharing state and city news, and community groups announcing meetings.
Karma and account requirements
What it takes to get a post through in r/SaltLakeCity.
| Karma | Not stated publicly. About 7% of posts in our sample were held by AutoModerator and 10% were removed by Reddit's filters, but no threshold is published. |
|---|---|
| Account age | Not stated publicly. |
| Dates in titles | Vague time words in a title get the post removed. Use a calendar date, or leave the time word out.Mods' wording: “"today" and "tomorrow" are not dates” |
| Events and meetups | The date must be in the title. This covers concerts, rideshare requests and sporting events.Mods' wording: “Meetup and event posts require a date in the title.” |
| Questions | Search first and show what you already found. Legal questions are out, and the submit page also rules out apartment and house questions.Mods' wording: “Questions asked without some proof of research will be removed.” |
| Post flair | Optional in practice. A bit over half of recent posts carry one. Photo, Recommendations and Question are the most used. |
What you can post
| Post type | Subreddit setting | Share of recent posts |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Allowed | 58% |
| Link | Allowed | 5% |
| Image | Allowed | 30% |
| Video | Allowed | 7% |
| Poll | Allowed | 0% |
Post flairs in use
- Photo 13%
- Recommendations 10%
- Question 9%
- Local News 5%
- Video 5%
- Events & Meetups 4%
- PSA 4%
- Discussion 3%
- Moving Advice 3%
- Nostalgia 1%
What happens to a new post
Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 100.
- Stayed up77%
- Removed by Reddit's filters10%
- Held by AutoModerator7%
- Removed by moderators6%
Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.
The rules, in the mods' words
- 1
Use search before posting
Reposts are frequent on this subreddit, and they may be removed. Please check to see if your topic has already been posted within the last week.
- 2
No posts with vague dates in the title
Use proper dates, "today" and "tomorrow" are not dates.
- 3
Meetup and event posts require a date in the title
This includes concerts, rideshare requests, and sporting events.
- 4
Do your research
Questions asked that show absolutely no research has been done may be removed. All legal advice will be removed as well.
- 5
Be considerate of others
Personal attacks, racism, sexism, and bigotry are not tolerated here. While disagreements and debates are welcome, pointless and needless insults are not. We all want to make our community a better place.
- 6
Do not post personal information
This includes names, personal phone numbers, personal emails, and any other personally identifiable information. Missing person posts are allowed only if a police report has been filed and proof has been sent to the mods. This is one of reddit's five rules.
- 7
Posts with editorialized headlines will be removed
Share your opinion about an article in the comments, not in the title.
- 8
Needless rants and negativity will be removed
- 9
Related to SLC or Utah
The LDS Church may have its headquarters here but that doesn't make it automatically related. The SLC Metropolitan Area is considered SLC for the purposes of this subreddit.
- 10
No advertising
No comments advertising unless someone specifically asks for recommendations. No posts advertising things period.
- 11
No Brigading or Pitchforks
No Brigading or Pitchfork type posts. The community will not be your attack dogs.
- 12
No low-effort posts
This includes photos without context, vague requests, non-specific questions or other low-effort content that does not meaningfully contribute to the community.
These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.
The culture
r/SaltLakeCity is a city notice board with about 264,000 members and close to 50 posts a day. Text posts are a little under 60% and images about 30%. Posts are short, around 45 words, and a typical thread gets seven or eight comments. Much of the daily flow is small and practical: where to buy imported food, who repairs violins, what the explosions in a suburb were.
The posts that reach the top are a different mix. Photos do well: a lightning strike, hail, a decorated house, an old picture of the freeway. So do real-time reports of a fire or a siren downtown, and anything about state politics, the shrinking Great Salt Lake, housing costs or dangerous driving. The single biggest recent post was a visitor telling locals their downtown is better than they think.
The fault line is tone. The rules ban rants, negativity and pitchfork posts, and the removal message tells people the community will not be their attack dogs. Yet angry posts about drivers and politicians are some of the most upvoted in the sample. What seems to separate the two is whether the post is about something the whole city shares or a personal grievance aimed at one target.
What lands
- A good photo of something local, with the place named: a storm, the mountains, a neighborhood oddity.
- A report of something happening right now that others can confirm or explain, like a siren or a freeway closure.
- A narrow recommendation request that says where you are and what you already tried or called.
- Local news links posted under the original headline, especially on state politics and the lake.
- Outsider or newcomer perspective on the city, written at length and with specifics.
What gets removed or ignored
- Event posts with no proper date. In the sample, a house show labelled by day of the week and an event post using "tonight" were both removed, while a near-identical one with a calendar date stayed up.
- Posts that read as recruiting or advertising, such as an invitation to join a weekly sports league.
- Generic questions the search would answer, like a broad ask for a type of restaurant.
- Videos and images with a title that gives no context. The low-effort rule names photos without context and vague requests.
- Rants, negativity, brigading and pitchfork posts, plus anything with personal information or an editorialized headline.
The unwritten rules
- Enforcement is uneven. Some posts with "tonight" in the body or no flair stay up, so a removal often comes down to the title.
- Name the neighborhood or the cross streets. Locals answer by area, and the metro counts as Salt Lake for the subreddit's purposes.
- The LDS Church comes up constantly, but the rules say a church topic is not automatically local. Tie it to something happening in the city.
- Comments are short, about 16 words, and only around 3% carry a link. Jokes about local quirks are part of the reply style.
- Health, politics and driving threads get argumentative fast. Expect pushback, and do not expect the room to take your side against a named person.
Self-promotion
The rule is short: no advertising in comments unless someone specifically asks for recommendations, and no advertising posts at all. The sidebar also lists classifieds under personal information that should not be posted. In practice, community notices do stay up, such as a council meeting announcement, a nonprofit bike drive in the news, or someone giving away tickets or baby gear for free. Anything that recruits customers or sign-ups does not. The one opening for a business is a recommendation thread where somebody asked for exactly what you do.
How people write here
- Typical post length
- 45 words
- Typical title length
- 6 words
- Titles phrased as a question
- 35%
- Typical comment length
- 16 words
- Comments that include a link
- 3%
- Posts that carry a flair
- 57%
The regulars
The accounts that showed up most in our sample. Worth reading before you post: they set the tone, and they are usually the first to reply.
Most active posters
- u/newW0rld0rderr4 posts
Most active commenters
- u/MsCalendarsPlayaArt10 comments
- u/Liz_LemonLime8 comments
- u/500owls6 comments
- u/_thekev5 comments
- u/fanny_price4 comments
Top keywords
The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/SaltLakeCity.
- slc 22 posts
- salt lake 18 posts
- downtown 15 posts
- utah 9 posts
- downtown slc 6 posts
- lake city 7 posts
- city 15 posts
- area 16 posts
- air raid 4 posts
- south 9 posts
- siren 4 posts
- capitol 4 posts
- tonight 8 posts
- whale fest 3 posts
- taylorsville 3 posts
- raid type 3 posts
- near downtown 3 posts
- iso 5 posts
- fest 4 posts
- temple 3 posts
- whale 4 posts
- valley 4 posts
- hall 4 posts
- near 7 posts
- cats 4 posts
- county 4 posts
- boarding 3 posts
- west 4 posts
- festival 3 posts
- dog 5 posts
- love 15 posts
- recommendations 9 posts
- weekend 6 posts
- fall 6 posts
- october 6 posts
- sound 6 posts
- cars 4 posts
- sooo 3 posts
- event 6 posts
- car 7 posts
Posts that did well
- Spent a Week in SLC. Respectfully, You Guys Have Zero Clue How Great Your Downtown Is.2.2k upvotes · 548 comments · Tourism
- Rep. Trevor Lee charged with fraud1.4k upvotes · 143 comments
- Three consecutive days of near accidents in SLC1.1k upvotes · 82 comments
- Spooooooky house on 700E1.1k upvotes · 24 comments · Photo
- Captured the best lightning strike I've ever seen in my life a few hours ago at the UofU!987 upvotes · 28 comments · Sky Photo
- Huge fire happening downtown right now961 upvotes · 124 comments · Video
- Well, that was certainly entertaining954 upvotes · 196 comments · Discussion
- Best plan to save the GSL yet827 upvotes · 69 comments · PSA
Common questions
How much karma do you need to post in r/SaltLakeCity?
The moderators do not publish a number, and the rules, sidebar and submit page contain no karma or account age requirement. In our sample about 77% of posts stayed up, 10% were removed by Reddit's filters, 7% were held by AutoModerator and 6% were removed by moderators. What those filters check is not stated.
Can I promote my business in r/SaltLakeCity?
Not in a post. The rule says no posts advertising things, period. In comments you may mention a business only when someone has specifically asked for recommendations. Free giveaways and community meeting notices do appear and stay up.
How do I post an event or meetup in r/SaltLakeCity?
Put a calendar date in the title. The rules say words like "today" and "tomorrow" are not dates, and that meetups, concerts, rideshare requests and sporting events all need one. Event posts without a date were among the moderator removals in our sample. The sidebar says anyone is welcome to organize a meetup as long as the date is in the title.
Why was my r/SaltLakeCity post removed?
The usual causes in the rules are a vague date in the title, an event with no date, a question that shows no research, a rant or call-out post, an editorialized headline, advertising, or a photo or request with no context. Legal questions are removed, and the submit page says apartment and house questions are no longer taken. The wiki already lists where to look for rentals.
Data as of October 4, 2026. Numbers come from public Reddit data (the Arctic Shift archive and GummySearch) sampled on this date. Removal share counts posts taken down by moderators, AutoModerator or Reddit's own filters. Banner and icon belong to the community. Moderators change rules without notice, so treat the sidebar as the final word.
