The discussion revolves around hiding a specific category from one admin in an open-source Discourse setup. Eman_Ahmed asks if it’s possible to restrict an admin’s access to a category while allowing others to view it. NateDhaliwal initially states that admins have full access and cannot be restricted. Moin suggests enabling the Suppress secured categories from admin site setting, which may hide categories from admins based on group permissions, but pfaffman clarifies that admins can always access all content. Moin confirms the setting’s effect but acknowledges its limitations. itsbhanusharma notes the setting only prevents accidental exposure, not intentional access, and emphasizes that a curious admin can bypass restrictions. RGJ adds that admins can modify settings or download backups. The consensus is that true hiding from an admin is impossible, and the best practice is to avoid trusting admins with sensitive data.
Scenario
We have a scenario of more than one admin where one of the admins wants to create a category and add specific group and want it to be hidden from the other admin
Is it possible? If Yes, how?
If no, what are the best practices except removing the admin access
It’s an open source discourse
I don’t think this is possible except by removing the user as admin, as admins have virtually access to everything.
You can enable the Suppress secured categories from admin site setting. It doesn’t cover all places, but maybe it’s enough for your use case.
Can that control which admin sees the categories? Or is it all or nothing?
The visibility is based on the security settings of the category, just like it works for everyone else. So, if the admin is a member of one of the groups that are allowed to see the category, they can see it.
I think you could hide it with css if the admin doesn’t notice, but if you can’t trust your admins, you’ve got bigger problems than them seeing a category.
No. Admins can see all categories.
Get rid of both admins.
I am quite sure the site setting I was talking about changes that. It did that when I tried it about a year ago. Is it broken?
From the description of that same setting:
Suppress private topics and PMs in some parts of UI for admins. Content will still be visible in some places. This is not a security feature: admins can always access all content on the site.
Oops! I bet you’re right! Sorry about that. Sorry, I totally missed that
Couldn’t the admin change that setting back?
And an admin could always download a backup and restore it some place else. You can’t hide anything from an admin. Ever.
They can also use data explorer, which isn’t logged in staff action logs, while changing a setting is. The setting helps to prevent accidental access. For me, there is a difference between “hidden from the other admin” which was asked in the OP and “preventing admins from accessing the information”.
And that’s why I said:
This setting is good only if an admin is uninterested in getting that content in their feed. A curious admin would always have ways around the problem.
The safest way is as @pfaffman recommended