So you are correct - Show HNs are content for which HN has an appetite. OPs content might be received just fine as a 'Show HN'. But on reddit, with the way they approached it, it is spam.
Is one self-promotional post on Reddit ok by your standards?
If one is ok, is 2 ok? How about 3? Where should we draw the line? Is it ok to make 1 self-promotional post every year? Every 6 months? Every month? Every week?
What if subreddit rules allow self-promotional content? Would posting there be ok?
> when it adds no value to the audience.
If only Reddit had a system for rating content.....(see the following)
> The post got a lot of traction with 200k views and 1.5k upvotes within 8 hours and lots of comments asking questions about it and some saying how helpful this could be.
Is that really the case?
I view reasonable and fully disclosed self-promotion as qualitatively different than spam and something that should be treated differently. Even HN makes this distinction by having a show section where self-promotion is allowed, but still blocking random spam.
Here's an example of self-promotion: "Hi, I'm Joe, the founder of Flextape. Watch me saw this oil tanker in half. Environmental disaster? No, we have flextape. Bam, good as new! Ask me anything."
Here's an example of spam: "These viagra pills are the best. Cheapest price! Send $69 they send you big box today!"
Now, I can understand that some communities don't want to allow self-promotion and might block self-promotional posts. But I'm not sure that treating an honest entrepreneur the same as a viagra spammer with a site-wide ban is the right approach for Reddit.