In a Support discussion titled Tracking topics created by member of group, benjamincfarmer seeks a way to automatically notify specific users (e.g., Sales team) when any topic is created by members of a designated group — without plugins, since their forum is hosted by Discourse. Initially, NateDhaliwal suggested group-based category notifications, but benjamincfarmer clarified they need tracking across all categories. NateDhaliwal later confirmed this isn’t natively supported. Heliosurge recommended exploring core automation features or contacting support for custom solutions. tobiaseigen proposed using the built-in Auto Tag Topic automation to tag topics by group members, then having the Sales team watch that tag — optionally hiding it in a private tag group. benjamincfarmer confirmed this matches the functionality of the Tag by Group plugin and plans to implement it via automation. They emphasized needing low-friction, automated workflows to onboard a tech-unfriendly team. Heliosurge affirmed the solution aligns well with the plugin’s intent. The thread concludes with benjamincfarmer expressing gratitude and confirming the automation path as viable.
I am interested in trying to automatically add new topics to a watch list when created by a user in a specific group. i.e. Customer/user starts topic and specific Sales/user gets announcement based on the group that the Customer/user is part of.
My forum is hosted by Discourse, so plugins are not really an option.
Any suggestions for this type of application?
I believe this is what you are looking for:
I want an individual to track any topic, in any category, created by any individual in a specific group.
I was able to find a plugin, Discourse Tag by Group, but would need to petition the inclusion of this to the hosted forum repository.
Sorry, I think I misread your question. AFAIK this isn’t possible in core yet, but I may be wrong.
With being hosted by Discourse. You might be able to see if a custom automation script maybe as iirc Automation plugin I believe was merged with core.
Have you considered messaging support? Maybe see if you can perhaps sponsor a custom automation?
As with being hosted you only have access to plugins within your plan.
Can you tell us a little more about what you are trying to achieve?
Would it be enough for you to have your sales team monitor the group’s activity? That is a list of posts, in reverse order. Example: Discourse team - Discourse Meta
You could also use the “auto tag topic” automation, and set it up to add a specific tag to posts by members of a specific group. Then have your sales team watch that tag.
If you don’t want your members see the tag, you can put it in a tag group visible only to admins and moderators.
This fits what I saw in the plugin Tag by Group. This is achievable via automation? Then I will dig into that. Thanks @tobiaseigen
My problem is that I’m new to trying to admin a forum and I’m trying to put up as many kiddie bumpers as possible to help drag my absolutely tech un-friendly team into using it. The more automatic the workflow, the better.
Thanks @Heliosurge, I always try to due diligence with the community before support.
The automation script Auto Tag Topic along with setting a “hidden” tag group, seems to be my solution.
Yeah that was pretty cool learning about the autotag automation as it matches the plugin you linked.