Launch catalog / Playbook
SitePoint Forums
Conditional free route community
Researched from public pages — no submission was run · sources read 2026-09-25. Rules change — recheck the platform's own pages before submitting.
What the free route requires
- Free account, but self-promotion is heavily gated: no signatures (fake signatures get one warning, then a ban), no links or promotional text in posts or 'About Me' (removed on sight), all outgoing links are nofollow, and signature privileges historically required ~90 days of membership
- A site review is only acceptable as a discussion-worthy request in the appropriate category — a bare 'please review my site' link post gets deleted
Requirements
- A community account (Discourse-based forum at sitepoint.com/community)
- Participation mindset — the FAQ expects members to give reviews, not only request them
- Review requests must be posted in the matching category (Design & UX, HTML & CSS, PHP, Marketing, etc.) with substantive context
Prepare before opening the form
- Account creation
- One profile link in the 'Web Site' profile field — the single allowed promotional link
- A thoughtful review-request post: what you built, what you like/dislike, what feedback you need
- Willingness to review other members' work in return
Workflow
- Create an account at sitepoint.com/community/signup (expect bot-blocking — 403 to automated fetch)
- Read the community FAQ/rules
- Put your product URL in the profile 'Web Site' field only
- Contribute in a relevant category first; then post a substantive review request using the 'site-review' style of topic
- The 'listing' outcome here is a public forum thread + profile, not a directory entry
Watch for
- Zero-tolerance spam policy: 'Do it once and you're out' — no second chances for blatant promotion
- All outgoing links are nofollow — SEO value is nil; the value is genuine feedback
- Akismet spam filtering is aggressive per moderators — new accounts' posts can get zapped
- Marketplace/Job Board categories exist for commercial posts — promotion outside them is deleted
What counts as live
Your account profile is public with the single 'Web Site' link, and any review-request thread is publicly visible in its forum category
Not verified
- Current signature/link privilege thresholds for new accounts (rules pages were only partially accessible)
- Whether registration is instant or moderated for new members