Convert a private message to public topic or vice versa

I just pushed a commit that adds a button (visible to staff) to admin wrench to make a topic public or private message.

Convert public topic to private message:

Small action post indicating that public topic is converted to private message:

Convert private message to public topic:

Small action post indicating that private message is converted to public topic:

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@techAPJ, is the later option available to moderators? Fully understand why the first is admin only.

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Yeah, we’ve had a few scenarios on our instance where it would have been nice to be able to push a button to make a topic private. I have less desire/need to make any public, but from a moderator perspective, making some private could be beneficial (rare occurance though for us).

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If moderators get the ability to make a message private, who are the recipients of the PM? If the moderator (specific user or group) isn’t part of the PM, they can’t view it…

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I would assume those that are in the discussion of the topic.

Which is sort of the point. We as mods feel the topic shouldn’t be public, I don’t mind that I would lose viewability to it. Plus if need be the users of the discussion could flag it to report any problems.

Again though, this is such a rarity for us, that I don’t feel overly strong about needing the ability (was just stating we’ve had a few scenarios where it would have been nice).

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I :heart: :heart_decoration: :heart_exclamation: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes_cat: this in a big, big, big way. Will make a big difference in my community.

Many, many thanks. :beers:

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Not yet, currently both options are Admin only.

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Does that imply this might become available to moderators later? If so, what would be the cause of the feature becoming available?

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By “Not yet” I mean this feature is still in feedback mode so if you provide valid use case and @codinghorror agrees, then I can amend the code to make this feature available to Moderators.

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Well, @cpradio has a good use case above.

My use case would be the following:

A few months ago a user posted a large number of support topics, all very valid. I helped the user in most of the cases. Eventually, the user PM’d me asking more questions. I helped the user via PM, and finally they were all set. In that case, I would’ve like to covert the PM to regular topic so others could see the discussion and troubleshooting we did.

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PM to regular is a lot safer direction since it does not imply the mod loses access to the topic…

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User option was never even being discussed, so I am not sure what you are talking about?

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any chance we could get this on posts which are pending approval?

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Unlikely as those do not exist in the same tables I don’t think.

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Okay, this feature (both options) is now available for moderators too. Here are some caveats:

  • If a moderator can see / create a post in the topic/message only then they will have the ability to use this feature.

  • If a moderator converts a public topic to private message, then that moderator will be added as participant in that message.

cc @jomaxro @cpradio


14 Likes