# Disable personal message between members **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-personal-message-between-members/375008 **Category:** Support **Tags:** personal-messages **Created:** [July 21, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-personal-message-between-members/375008 "2025-07-21T03:31:10Z") **Posts on this page:** 3 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Steve\_John](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/steve_john/32/435022_2.png) [@Steve\_John](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Steve_John) #### Post date: [July 21, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-personal-message-between-members/375008/1 "2025-07-21T03:31:10Z")
I noticed that there was a discussion on this topic back in 2023, but it didn’t seem to reach a clear conclusion, as noted by Jay: How do I disable personal messages between members but not admin to members? Has anything changed recently regarding this? Specifically, how can we disable private messaging between regular users while still allowing admins and staff to initiate messages? ---
### Author: ![Heliosurge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/heliosurge/32/571810_2.png) [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge) #### Post date: [July 21, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-personal-message-between-members/375008/2 "2025-07-21T04:15:49Z")
If you are self hosted there is a plugin. Allow pm to staff. > [@Allow-pm-to-staff](https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-pm-to-staff/260946): > > information_sourceSummary Allow all users to PM Staffhammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/pfaffman/discourse-allow-pm-to-staff](https://github.com/pfaffman/discourse-allow-pm-to-staff)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)Features Allow users to send a PM to staff even if they would not otherwise be able to send a PM. Configuration allow\_pm\_to\_staff\_enabled–Enables the plugin (default true) allow\_pm\_allowed\_pm\_groups–Set groups who can receive PMs from all users (default “staff”). S… ---
### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin) #### Post date: [July 21, 2025, 4:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-personal-message-between-members/375008/3 "2025-07-21T04:39:08Z")
You can remove users from the `personal message enabled group` site setting, and then staff can still message them. The setting is about who is allowed to initiate a message and you cannot remove admins and moderators from it. If you want users to be able to initiate messages to admins, you can allow “everyone” to message your admin group in the group configuration. (You can also enable that for other groups like moderators and staff) ![Screenshot_20250721_062025_Firefox](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/4/b/a4b316d5aa44ad08310364b87920d5a300220cc8.jpeg) Then the user will see a message button at the top of the group page ![Screenshot_20250721_062147_Firefox](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/3/1/0/310e9463be715ad9bf5d8a6fabba55144cab5237.jpeg) They can also add a group manually to a new message, but since most parts of the interface related to messages are hidden, you may want to place a link that creates a new message somewhere where they can find it. I would add the link to the sidebar or use a theme component like [Custom Header Links (icons)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-header-links-icons/86307) or [Custom Top Navigation Links](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-top-navigation-links/87225) depending on how prominent you need it. The link to create a new message is `{yourForum}/new-message`. You can also add the groupname parameter to prefill the recipient `?groupname=admins` Users can also flag anything as “something else” to message staff.