Change in hidden post behavior - no longer expandable

AI-generated summary

Users in a self-hosted Discourse instance noticed that hidden posts — previously expandable via a “Show hidden content” button — are now completely inaccessible to regular users. MentalNomad confirmed this change appeared in the latest update and is problematic for their community, which values transparency even for flagged content. Lilly and Canapin confirmed the behavior change was intentional, citing a meta discussion and a specific post explaining that, as of PR #21052, only staff and TL4 users can expand hidden content by default. twofoursixeight referenced a prior bug report and quoted Canapin confirming the removal of the “View ignored content” option for regular users. MentalNomad acknowledged the change and plans to continue the discussion in the linked meta topic, seeking potential workarounds or configuration options to restore access for non-staff users.

We have a self-hosted Discourse running on the latest.

In the past, posts that were hidden due to multiple user flags or due to a Moderator agreeing with a user flag were still visible to users if they hit the “Show hidden content” button.

Now, however, it seems users can no longer do that. A hidden post is inaccessible.

  1. When did this change in behavior go in?
  2. Is there a setting we can use to control this behavior?

It is very important in our community that the content, though hidden, be accessible to those who want to see it.

i think this has been changed not long ago, and is no longer possible by regular users. by default only staff can view the posts hidden by flags now.

Indeed. The related discussion is here:

yea i was searching for that topic. here is the particular post about how it works now:

I had created a bug report a while ago on this:

I also have a direct explanation on this:

Thanks, all, for the replies and details. Looks like this change went into the latest update.

As it turns out, it’s a serious and problematic change for a Discourse in an organization I’m part of.

I’ll continue in that Topic.