Hey everyone! I’m u/lildobe, and I’ve recently stepped in to take over moderation of r/PittsburghList.
I’ve lived in the Greater Pittsburgh area for over 40 years and have experience moderating across Reddit. My goal here is simple: keep the scammers and spam bots out, make listings easier to browse, and otherwise stay out of the way so neighbors can buy, sell, and trade smoothly.
I’ve just finished rolling out a few updates to the community rules and setting up some behind-the-scenes automation. Here is what you need to know before posting:
1. Required Post Title Tags & Automatic Flairs
Every post title must start with one of these five tags in brackets. Once you submit your post, AutoModerator will automatically assign the matching post flair for you:
Example: [WTS] Gently used standing desk in Shadyside - $75
(Note: Posts without one of these tags at the very beginning of the title will be blocked or automatically removed.)
2. How to Mark Your Listing as "Sold / Closed"
When your item sells, gets claimed, or you find what you were looking for, you don't need to delete your post or manually dig through menus to change the flair.
Simply leave a new comment on your own post starting with any of these commands:
!sold
!closed
!claimed
!found
AutoModerator will automatically update your post flair to Sold / Closed and leave a distinguished note letting other users know the item is no longer available.
3. Updated Community Rules
We’ve refreshed the sidebar rules and enabled automated filtering to keep the feed clean:
- No Illegal Items, Prohibited Goods, or Adult Services: Buying, selling, trading, gifting, or requesting adult/sexual services, cannabis/THC, vapes/nicotine, tobacco, alcohol, firearms/ammo, prescription medications, counterfeit goods, or anything else against the Reddit Terms of Service is strictly prohibited.
- No Job Postings or Job Seeking: All employment posts, whether you are hiring, recruiting, or looking for work/gig labor, belong over in r/pittsburghjobs.
- Be Civil: No Jagoffs, Trolls, or Scammers: Treat people with respect. Thread-crapping, mocking someone's listing, personal attacks, and scamming will get your content removed and repeated violations will get your account banned.
- Use Required Title Tags: Start every post with
[WTB], [WTS], [WTT], [WTR], or [FREE].
- Keep It Local to the Greater Pittsburgh Region: Listings must be located in Greater Pittsburgh / Western PA (Allegheny and surrounding counties) and available for local pickup or meetup. Out-of-area listings, drop-shipping links, and national shipping-only spam are not permitted.
- Include an Asking Price on [WTS] and [WTR] Posts: All [WTS] (Want to Sell) and [WTR] (Want to Rent) posts must state a clear dollar price or monthly rent amount in the title or post body. Do not post "make an offer," "DM for price," bidding wars, or links to external eBay auctions without a set local price. [WTB], [WTT], and [FREE] posts do not require a price.
- No Commercial Spam, Businesses, or Referral Codes: r/PittsburghList is for local person-to-person transactions, not commercial advertising. Do not post business promotions, dealership/broker ads, MLM/pyramid schemes, crypto pitches, affiliate links, or referral/promo codes. Promoting external online storefronts (Shopify, Etsy, Redbubble) or commercial lead-generation links is prohibited.
- No Ticket Scalping: Face Value or Less Only: Tickets for local concerts, sports (Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt, Riverhounds, etc.), and events may only be sold at or below original face value (including original fees). Posts selling tickets must state the event date, section/seat numbers (or GA), and the asking price. Reselling free community event tickets is prohibited.
- Bundle Multiple Items & Wait 7 Days to Repost: If you are selling multiple items at once (such as a moving or garage sale), combine them into a single post rather than flooding the feed with individual threads. Do not repost or resubmit the same unsold item more than once every 7 days.
- Posts Must Be Active Listings. No Advice, Info, or Promotions:
Every post must be a direct listing to buy, sell, trade, rent, or give away a specific physical or digital item, ticket, or housing space. Do not post general questions, advice or recommendation requests, PSAs, informational updates, lost-and-found notices, or promotional/advertising content, even if formatted with a title tag (e.g., "[WTB] Advice on..." or "[FREE] Check out my event"). General Pittsburgh discussion and questions belong in r/pittsburgh.
Quick Safety Reminder
Whenever possible, meet in a well-lit public place for exchanges and inspect items in person before handing over cash. Never send deposits, gift cards, crypto, or unprotected digital payments (like Zelle, Venmo Friends & Family, or CashApp) to strangers before meeting up, especially for concert or sports tickets.
If you spot spam, scammers, or anything that breaks the rules, please hit the Report button so it lands in the mod queue. Feel free to drop any questions, feedback, or suggestions for the sub in the comments below!
There may be some bumps along the way with the automations. You can always send me a message through modmail if you think your post was removed improperly and I'll look into it.
