The discussion revolves around whether watching a category in Discourse automatically watches its subcategories. Users schungx and wolftune initially raise the issue, noting that subcategories are not currently watched when a parent category is watched, which creates maintenance challenges. While some users, like JPick, advocate for a “watch this + all subcategories” option, others, such as ClawdiaWolf, caution against it due to performance concerns with large numbers of subcategories. A key point of agreement is that the feature already exists but is not easily discoverable. rishabh confirms that users can watch all existing subcategories by searching for the parent category and selecting the “+x categories” option, though this does not apply to new subcategories. For dynamic categories, a workaround using automation is suggested rishabh. However, users like aidanheerdegen note the feature is inconsistent across instances, and JammyDodger questions its reliability. The consensus is that the functionality exists but needs better discoverability and reliability.
It seems like whenever a category is watched, any subcategories underneath it are not automatically watched as well.
This way, when I have a lot of subcategories (in our case different countries), it is quite a long watch list that must be carefully maintained for different users.
Is there a way to “propagate” the watch to subcategories?
But anyway, can I get clarity on the intended situation? There no relation between watch settings for categories and subcategories? They each are changed independently, and only posts directly in the top-level category are affected by its watch settings?