# Confirming - it's OK to set default watch for categories a user can't see
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [August 23, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420 "2015-08-23T00:52:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/1 "2015-08-23T00:52:57Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Default email settings for a new user](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-email-settings-for-a-new-user/14980/43):
> [@Default email settings for a new user](https://meta.discourse.org/t/default-email-settings-for-a-new-user/14980/43):
>
> [FEATURE: global admin override of most of the user preferences · discourse/discourse@bef8063 · GitHub](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/bef80633b1b58189a732a3959d3a59da44aa55e9)
So, now that this feature is in place, I want to make sure new users are watching all the right categories. The concern is that they won’t all have permissions to all categories.
I want to confirm my assumption, that it’s OK to set a forum’s defaults to include all the important categories, and that if a user can’t see the category, the fact they Watch it by default won’t hurt anything (and won’t generate emails to them from the categories.)
If I’m right, [this topic about watching certain groups by default](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-members-of-a-group-watch-a-category-by-default/22127) may be much less complex.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/2 "2015-08-23T03:01:33Z")
Good question! I doubt anything bad will happen but a good idea for @zogstrip to check.
---
### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/3 "2015-08-23T18:27:41Z")
Just checked and if you put a category that has some permission as a default, new users who doesn’t match these permissions won’t have that category in their list 😉
---
### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/4 "2015-08-23T18:33:05Z")
Great… I’ll be using this new feature to add all categories as Watched.. It’s a far better user experience then Mailing list mode, and the [unwatch this topic links](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-unwatch-a-topic-with-a-link/27505) in the emails are just fantastic.
I assume that people are likely to look at their profile & unwatch topics they don’t have permission to see. They may also wonder why they don’t have that permission. For that reason I have [this request](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-members-of-a-group-watch-a-category-by-default/22127/24) to make being added to a group auto-watch categories.
---
### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/5 "2015-08-23T19:27:04Z")
> [@watchmanmonitor](#):
>
> I assume that people are likely to look at their profile & unwatch topics they don’t have permission to see.
They won’t even show up in the list if they don’t have permission to see 😉
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/6 "2015-08-24T00:59:01Z")
Just confirming though, if you add them to a group afterwards, it will be magically in the list (unless they saved user profile in the gap of time)
Use case: Invite user to site and add to group functionality (user is created first, and then added to group).
---
### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/7 "2015-08-24T01:20:58Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> (unless they saved user profile in the gap of time)
Gah.. hadn’t considered that one.
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/8 "2015-08-24T01:21:27Z")
> [@watchmanmonitor](#):
>
> Gah.. hadn’t considered that one.
That is unavoidable, if they do that all bets are off.
---
### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/9 "2015-08-24T01:23:35Z")
Sure, makes sense. I feel that these defaults are great, and if we can get the act of adding someone to a group makes them [auto-watch xyz categories](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-members-of-a-group-watch-a-category-by-default/22127/24), we have a feature-rich solution.
Once the defaults are set, the users can fend for themselves.
I am truly excited to this come to fruition.
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2016, 7:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/10 "2016-07-08T07:15:44Z")
Just confirming that there is a guardian call prior to raising any notification:
```plaintext
return unless Guardian.new(user).can_see?(post)
```
If you can not see a post you will not be notified or emailed.
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2024, 12:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confirming-its-ok-to-set-default-watch-for-categories-a-user-cant-see/32420/11 "2024-06-08T12:45:27Z")
This topic was automatically closed after 3212 days. New replies are no longer allowed.