About Category Auto-Created Topic - Sitewide Options

feature
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When a new category is created, the ‘About the _ Category’ topic is auto-created. I think it would be a nice addition to add some sitewide settings to configure the auto-creation. Some ideas below:

category about topic auto close: Y/N (Default Y)

I think in most scenarios, it’s not ideal to allow comments on the about category topic. It can result in a megathread in some cases. Some good solutions are either closing the topic, or having comments auto-delete after a period. Auto-closing I think would be a safe default.

category about topic auto unlist: Y/N (Default N)

Auto unlisting these topics would be a nice option also, disabled by default. It can be useful for sites that use theme components that don’t require the about category topics to be visible. Such as: Discourse Category Banners

Also for scenarios when the about category topic isn’t very necessary for users as the category quite self-explanatory. I believe the description would still be used for the meta-description for search engines, but can be unlisted for users.

category about topic creation username:

Assign a user for the auto-creation of the about category topics. E.g. a specified admin, mod or the system user. This could be good for consistency on some forums.

7 Likes
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Today I asked myself why those topics aren’t closed by default. The risk that no one notices someone posted there is quite high because the topic does not appear in /latest. About the General category does not even have a real user as the author, so no one will be notified. But even if someone is the author, the risk that no one will respond is high. There was a question in the about marketplace topic two weeks ago. I’m not sure if someone noticed because usually posts receive reactions or answers.

So maybe closing the topic would be the better default. Most new about topics here at meta are closed. If someone wants discussion in there, they could still open the topic.

5 Likes
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You have shamed me into tidying all ours up on Meta. :+1: :slight_smile:

I also encountered a similar issue on another forum I’m on, so I should really have known better. :slight_smile:

But I think the point still stands. The About topics are automatically hidden from topic lists, so it is easy to overlook a reply on those. Closing them by default, or making them ‘unreplyable’ in some other way, would likely be quite useful to most sites.

6 Likes