Change topic author from 'system' to someone else

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AI-generated summary

The discussion is about changing the topic author from ‘system’ to someone else on Discourse. christian_01 asked if it’s possible to change the author of auto-created pages, such as Terms of Service and Privacy. simon confirmed that it’s possible to change the owner of any post, and provided steps to do so. He also explained that these pages are attributed to ‘system’ because it’s a permanent entity, but users won’t see the system user as the author when visiting these pages.

tanius provided a simpler method to change ownership, and lyseoy asked if topic ownership can be changed at the time of posting. Jacob_Peebles had trouble finding the “Change Ownership” feature, but Moin helped him find it. CocoQuark mentioned that post revisions can be hidden to avoid showing author changes. Finally, Moin shared a guide explaining the steps to change ownership of posts: https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-ownership-of-posts/276672?u=moin.

1

Is it possible to change the topic author from ‘system’ to someone else?

I have updated and want to change these auto-created pages -

Terms of Service, Privacy etc…

2

Yes, you can change the owner of any post on Discourse. To change the owner of a topic, you just need to change the owner of the first post in the topic.

To do this, first select the post:

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Then click the ‘change ownership’ button:

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Those pages are displayed differently than most Discourse topics. By default, the topics are created in your Staff category, but they are not viewed by users from within that category. When users visit your Terms of Service and Privacy pages, they will not see the system user displayed as the author of the content.

3

Just to add, these pages are attributed to system because people come and go, but system is forever.

4

And since this is about changing ownership for a single post only, there is a simpler method:

  1. Click the three-dots menu button “…” below the post of which you want to change ownership.

  2. Click the wrench icon from the menu that will appear.

  3. Click “Change Ownership”, enter the new owner and confirm.

You need to be a staff user (moderator or admin) to see this feature.

5

Can the topic ownership be changed at the time of posting? So that the post never shows the original ownership.

6

Is this still valid? When I look at the menu today, I see this:

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I am trying to change the top ownership from one admin to another.

7

Did you try selecting posts from only one author? If it’s just one post, you can also use the wrench icon at the post.


8

I see it now @Moin thanks - tricky! Almost like a hidden magic trick!

9

Better late than never. You can hide post revisions so it won’t appear to users that the author has been changed.

10

There is a great guide explaining all the steps: Changing ownership of posts