# Category setting: unhide topic from latest when there is a reply
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [October 4, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397 "2017-10-04T11:58:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/1 "2017-10-04T11:58:01Z")
I’m interested in creating some categories where people are encouraged to create new topics liberally (for example, sharing links or “TIL” type posts).
I’m concerned about this cluttering up the front page and I’m aware of the “hide topics in this category from latest” setting.
Many of the topics would likely receive no replies.
But on occasion, I think some of these topics could spark a discussion. It’d be cool if there were an option to auto-unhide the topic from latest once there were a reply. (I could see the inhide criteria being more sophisticated or configurable too, but this simple approach seems like a good starting point).
What do others think? How would you use this if it existed? Would you use the this feature on your site if it existed as a core feature? If it were a plugin, would you install it?
---
### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/2 "2017-10-04T16:05:28Z")
Just to clarify, you’re looking for “hide topics _without replies_ in this category from latest”?
---
### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/3 "2017-10-04T20:16:53Z")
Yep, that’s another way to put it.
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/4 "2017-10-04T21:39:32Z")
The “commonish” reason I see for this is that if you enable embedding at the moment on a giant site we create a mountain of topics with zero replies, cause topics are created when you visit the “embedding” page.
This would help this particular case, even if we optimise our flow.
When you click “add comment” on the blog/wiki etc. we have no choice but to create a topic on the Discourse site, regardless if you go ahead and actually add a comment.
---
### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/5 "2017-10-05T12:54:13Z")
Prior discussions:
> [@Embedding, but don't automatically create a topic until a user chooses to comment](https://meta.discourse.org/t/embedding-but-dont-automatically-create-a-topic-until-a-user-chooses-to-comment/61450/15):
>
> I see your predicament. But instead of the potentially messy solutions discussed so far, what if the topics are indeed created normally, but until they have a reply, they are unlisted, i.e. not visible in the forum stream and only accessible via a direct link. Would that be an acceptable compromise? In other words, the basic spec request becomes something like this: Option to set topics generated for embedded comments as unlisted by default. Special flag that can be put on selected unlisted …
> [@Unlisted option on creation of a new topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/unlisted-option-on-creation-of-a-new-topic/38515):
>
> Is there a way to specify that a topic should be unlisted on creation? Otherwise, if somebody subscribes to a category, they get a notification, even if I quickly unlist a topic after creation. If not, what’s a workaround? Create a topic in Staff, make it unlisted, then move it to the target category?
---
### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/6 "2018-01-05T13:49:43Z")
A separate, possibly complementary feature for use cases like this that I thought of this morning would be to have a _tag_ (or list of tags) that when added to a topic, would make the topic show up on the main topic list page.
Groups that primarily discuss things in their own, semi-private unlisted category could choose to promote things to the main page that are of more general interest by adding one if these tags to the topic.
This was be kind of be an equal but opposite feature to “muted tags”.
---
### Author:  [@gerald](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerald)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/category-setting-unhide-topic-from-latest-when-there-is-a-reply/71397/7 "2018-07-14T12:36:22Z")
Have you found a solution? Perhaps a close alternative?