Imagine you have a support category. Is there a way to let anyone create a support topic but only allow the original posted and moderators/staff access to reply? The problem we are running into is that users create a support request but the community muddys up the request with random posts in an effort to resolve it. Often times it confuses the original poster with so many responses. Asking for a model where: Everyone - see & create Only the op + group x (mod, staff + selected users) can reply. This is for community.infinite-flight.com

[image] New category permission : "Create and see" Feature I am closing this cause this is now implemented using “group inboxes” You define a group as the people who are allowed to process the topic list and then allow it to accept messages from any user in the forum. Effectively this gives you “create and see” Any user can create a message to the group All members of the group can see the message (and archive if needed) Use PMs and Group inboxes for that.

Is there a way without converting each message to a PM? Otherwise people with the same issue would not be able to see it.

No. There’s no per-topic permissions. If you don’t want everyone to be able to reply to the original post, but want people to be able to see the final response, you can use the above “group inbox” solution and the move them to a category once you’ve got a solution you want public. OR you can teach people in your community not to be helpful.

[image] pfaffman: OR you can teach people in your community not to be helpful. For some objective discussions, like user support, it does hinder the process if the community are providing inaccurate information. Whilst they may be trying to helpful, in the case of user support as Chris mentioned in his original post, it may not appear helpful to a first-time poster asking a question to receive multiple answers (most of which not answering their question or adding any value to the discussion).

Agreed. I should have put “helpful” in quotes. My point was that the problem here is better solved by programming the humans by deleting their posts or otherwise encouraging not to provide bad information.

We frequently do this to help avoid misinformation - our forum is for a mobile app, we need to be careful with users requesting support so they get the best experience with their first point of contact :slight_smile: Being able to control who can reply would be beneficial for some objective categories, such as in this case. We already make extensive use of groups and PMs for handling a large percentage of our support (including email-based support), and it works a charm, it’s just the people that choose to request support publicly that may not be getting the most accurate information the first time around. Appreciate your input, Jay!

I would like to close the loop here @carmalonso what is the current status? Do you use PMs more heavily now?

Limit post replies in a category?

Product Support

Chris_S (Chris S) March 24, 2020, 12:35am 10

We handle it with increased moderation and published guidelines for users posting in the category. Quickly flagging/removing off topic replies.

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Limit post replies in a category?

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