# Allow moderators to create groups

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-moderators-to-create-groups/41408>\
**Category:** Feature\
**Created:** [March 22, 2016, 8:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-moderators-to-create-groups/41408 "2016-03-22T08:35:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 8:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-moderators-to-create-groups/41408/1 "2016-03-22T08:35:28Z")

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Yesterday, @codinghorror announced a new feature to try and curb behavior that can cause performance issues (see [Using private / personal messages as long term chat](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-private-personal-messages-as-long-term-chat/41356/17)). After a bit of discussion, @sam and I had a conversation about PMs vs private categories, and I learned that other than visibility, they are not very different. Other than their visibility, particularly with group PMs now being first class citizens, the biggest difference is who can create them. At the moment, with default settings anyone can create a PM to a xx people, but only admins can create groups, and thus private categories.

## Allow moderators to create groups

The main feature request is to allow moderators to create groups, in a similar manner to how they create categories.

### Necessary changes

1. New site setting `allow moderators to create groups`
2. Allow moderators to see the groups page in the Admin interface
3. Allow moderators to create groups, assign group owners, members, and change all other group settings

### Potential Issues

How to continue to allow Admins to create groups that are not visible to Moderators?

**Proposed Solution**  
It is currently possible for a moderator to create a new category they cannot see after creation (by assigning it to be viewable only to Admins. Whether this is a bug or not is an issue for another time. I would propose a similar solution for group creation. Create a single check box (ideally viewable only by Admins) that says `Do not make group visible to moderators`. This option would only appear if the `allow moderators to create groups` is enabled, and would allow for admin only groups to still be created. If this box is checked, then these groups do not appear for moderators in the groups interface, just like categories are not shown to those users without proper permissions on the /categories page.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-moderators-to-create-groups/41408)._