# Ambiguous error message when loading topic that you don't have permission to read
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-error-message-when-loading-topic-that-you-dont-have-permission-to-read/29321
**Category:** Bug
**Created:** [May 27, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-error-message-when-loading-topic-that-you-dont-have-permission-to-read/29321 "2015-05-27T16:58:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Choonster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Choonster)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-error-message-when-loading-topic-that-you-dont-have-permission-to-read/29321/1 "2015-05-27T16:58:34Z")
When attempting to load a topic that I don’t have permission to read (either because my trust level is too low or because it’s a private message I’m not involved in), I get the following error message:
> [@](#):
>
> Sorry, we couldn’t load that topic, possibly due to a connection problem. Please try again. If the problem persists, let us know.
This message doesn’t tell me what actually went wrong (I didn’t have permission to view the topic).
I recently encountered this on [what.thedailywtf.com](http://what.thedailywtf.com) when someone linked a topic in the Lounge category (which requires TL3+ to read) from a post in another category. I was only TL2 at the time, so I didn’t have permission to view it and got the above error message when I clicked on the link.
To reproduce this, I created two new accounts and sent a PM from one to the other. When attempting to view this PM on my main account, I got the above error. When attempting to view a topic in the Lounge (TL3+) on one of the test accounts (TL1), I got the same error.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-error-message-when-loading-topic-that-you-dont-have-permission-to-read/29321/2 "2015-05-27T19:48:11Z")
Yeah this is a bug I also mentioned it to @eviltrout.
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-error-message-when-loading-topic-that-you-dont-have-permission-to-read/29321/3 "2015-05-27T19:59:22Z")
I believe @eviltrout already fixed it 😉
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/5890dae64c7af7ca0c93728a98e25f3bc1195ccc](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/5890dae64c7af7ca0c93728a98e25f3bc1195ccc)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-error-message-when-loading-topic-that-you-dont-have-permission-to-read/29321/4 "2015-05-27T20:26:05Z")