# Can category moderators be prevented from reviewing flags on their own posts?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-category-moderators-be-prevented-from-reviewing-flags-on-their-own-posts/403661
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** moderation, category-moderators, review-queue
**Created:** [May 22, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-category-moderators-be-prevented-from-reviewing-flags-on-their-own-posts/403661 "2026-05-22T19:41:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-category-moderators-be-prevented-from-reviewing-flags-on-their-own-posts/403661/4 "2026-05-22T21:16:10Z")

</div>

Thanks, that makes sense.

It is not so much that I distrust a specific person I have chosen as a moderator. I am trying to choose the least-powerful role that matches the job I actually want them to do.

Thinking about it more, I think there are a few separate needs here which should not be mixed together:

1. general topic organisation / community tidying;
2. handling flags in a specific category;
3. ordinary deletion of a user’s own posts;
4. more sensitive deletion/revision-history handling.

For example, if the main need is topic organisation/community tidying, then TL4 may be more appropriate than category moderator because it avoids giving access to the flag review queue at all. If I actually need someone to review flags in a category, then category moderator is the relevant role, with a clear local policy that they should not handle reviewables involving their own posts.

My remaining question is whether a category moderator can see which user raised a flag against them when their own post is flagged.

I also take the point that a theme component should not be relied on as a security boundary, because it would mainly hide UI rather than change the underlying permission model.

So I think my practical options are:

1. use TL4/Leader where I want trusted community help but not flag handling;
2. use category moderator only where I genuinely want that person reviewing flags;
3. keep ordinary own-post deletion separate from moderation permissions;
4. keep permanent deletion/revision-history removal as an admin/full-moderation matter rather than something solved by category moderation;
5. keep a written policy that moderators should defer flags involving their own posts.

That answers my question unless there is a stronger permission-level way to exclude self-authored flagged posts from a category moderator’s review queue, or unless the flagger identity is already hidden from the post author in that self-flag scenario.

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-category-moderators-be-prevented-from-reviewing-flags-on-their-own-posts/403661)._