I got banned from SoloLearn for trying to help beginners.
Here's what happened.
Yesterday, I was on a mission.
I'm Harun, a 12-year-old solo dev who built KODA, an AI coding mentor, entirely on my Android phone.
I noticed hundreds of beginners on SoloLearn asking: "How do I start?", "Help me with loops!", "I'm stuck!" So I did what any helpful founder would do: I answered their questions, gave them code solutions, and added a small P.S.: "P.S.
I built a free tool called KODA to help with this.
Try it here: [Link]." I thought I was being helpful.
SoloLearn's algorithm thought I was spamming.
Within hours, my account was blocked. 🚫 The Moment of Panic When I saw "Your account is blocked," my first thought was: "Oh no, I messed up.
My marketing is over." But then, my CEO brain kicked in.
I realized: If an automated bot thought my helpful comments were "spam," maybe I was doing something right.
Maybe I was being too effective.
The Lesson: Marketing vs.
Helping Here is what I learned in 24 hours: Algorithms hate links.
Even helpful ones.
If you paste a URL 10 times, the bot doesn't care about your intent; it sees a pattern.
Trust takes time.
You can't force users; you have to earn them.
The Story > The Link.
People don't click links because they are forced to.
They click because they connect with the story.
The Pivot So, am I quitting?
No.
I'm pivoting.
I'm turning this ban into this article.
I'm going to focus on Dev.to, where the community values "Build in Public" stories.
I'm going to ask my friends (Renuka, Dharaneesh) to be my first real users, face-to-face.
And maybe, one day, I'll go back to SoloLearn with a smarter strategy: No links in comments.
Just value in the bio.
To Other Founders If you get blocked, rejected, or told "no" today: Don't stop.
Turn that hurdle into content.
Turn that rejection into a lesson.
Turn that "Blocked" screen into your next viral post.
Because while others see a wall, I see a story.
And stories build empires.
Try KODA anyway (no login required to test): https://koda-aicodementor.netlify.app/ Built with ❤️ (and a little bit of rebellion) by Harun (age 12) on a POCO C55.