The discussion addresses the lack of visibility regarding which users or groups have access to a restricted Category in Discourse. Currently, a ‘lock’ symbol indicates restriction, but outofthebox notes that members with access cannot see exactly who else is included. They propose a feature where clicking the lock displays a pop-up list of all members granted access. Heather_Dudley suggests using the category description for this info but critiques the lock icon, arguing it implies total inaccessibility rather than restricted access. simon clarifies that restricted categories are invisible to unauthorized users entirely and notes there is no built-in UI to show access groups. He recommends manually adding this info to the category’s ‘About’ topic or the group’s ‘About Group’ section. outofthebox reiterates the need for this visibility for those who can already see the category. simon confirms no native feature exists for this. However, JammyDodger points out a workaround: opening the share link box for a post reveals a list of groups able to view it. Ultimately, mcwumbly closes the thread as a duplicate of an existing feature request regarding this specific functionality.
Currently, when a Category is restricted access, it displays a ‘lock’ symbol. However, members who do have access may not know exactly who has access to the group.
One possibly solution would be to enable clicking on the lock and a pop-up box appears showing a list of all the members who have access to conversations in that space. This would be a merge of all the members of all the groups who have been granted access to that Category.
What I do is use the category description for that. If it’s TL1, for example, I explain that in the description so it pops up on mouseover.
I don’t love the lock icon for restricted access though. People understand “locked” to mean “inaccessible” (reinforced by the use of the lock icon on closed posts) – not “locked to certain people.”
Restricted categories are only displayed for users who can ‘See’ the category. This means that your users who cannot see the category will not even know that it exists. If you try viewing your site as a Trust Level 1 user, you’ll see how it works.
I’m not sure what the best approach is to let users know that they need to join a group to get access to more content on a forum.
Hi, understood. For those who can see the Category, how do they know who else can see it?
There is nothing build into the UI that tells a user which groups have access to a category. You could add this information to the category’s ‘About’ topic. You could also add it to the group’s ‘About Group’ section.
One way to have a quick check is to open up the share link box for a post and you can see a list of the groups who will be able to view it:
This is one from #lounge:
Closing as duplicate of: Allow users with access to a restricted category to see who else has access
