In a support thread titled “Security of a category keeps reverting back,” Nick_Tomlinson reports that a forum category repeatedly reverts to public visibility despite being set to private for specific trust levels and groups. Canapin asks for timing details and checks for permission conflicts or unauthorized users, noting that category security changes don’t appear in staff logs. Stephen verifies whether “Save Category” is clicked and if the padlock icon appears, which Nick_Tomlinson confirms, though the setting reverts within hours or a day. Stephen then asks about browser console errors, logs, or subcategory permissions. supermathie highlights a critical point: if permissions for the “everyone” group aren’t explicitly removed, changes won’t save — even if the padlock appears. They also suggest checking for JS errors, proxy/subfolder issues, and staff action logs. Ultimately, Nick_Tomlinson resolves the issue by identifying a permissions conflict — mixing group and trust-level settings — and simplifying to trust levels alone, restoring stability. The thread concludes with gratitude for the community’s help.
Hi guys, has anyone had this issue?
One of my forums categories keeps reverting back to everyone can see ( I made it private for certain trust levels & groups)
It’s doesn’t always happen straight away but reverts itself,
Any help would be appreciated
After how long?
Are there potential conflicts between your security rules?
Are there other users who can change the security settings?
Unfortunately, changing a category’s security settings doesn’t appear in the staff actions logs.
Are you hitting “save category” after altering the permissions?
Do you see the padlock appear next to the category name after making the change?
yes i do, then either instantly or a day or so changes back by itself
Are there any errors in the browser console, or anything in /logs?
Does this category have any subcategories? What are the permissions on those?
Have you removed any permissions from the everyone group? If you haven’t done that, you’ll see this message:
This category is public, everyone can see, reply and create posts. To restrict permissions, remove one or more of the permissions granted to the “everyone” group.
In this state, when you click Save, nothing will be saved.
Does it persist through a page reload? If not, it’s probably not being saved correctly. Are you behind a subfolder or proxy? Do any errors show up in the JS console (F12)?
If it does, is there anything in your admin logs? Check /admin/logs/staff_action_logs and filter by “change category settings”.
Hi guys, I had a permissions conflict! 
I was adding different groups to the security settings, removing them and using just trust levels, all is now good.
Thanks so much for your help!
