# Disallowing "uncategorized" entries still offers uncategorized as default category
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [7월 3, 2014, 2:39오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142 "2014-07-03T02:39:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@leichtgewicht](https://meta.discourse.org/u/leichtgewicht)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 2:39오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/1 "2014-07-03T02:39:21Z")
When I disallow uncategorised topics by disabling the flag in the backend
It still shows the “uncategorized” category when I edit a topic:
and allows me to post that topic.
Is that supposed to be that way?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 2:43오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/2 "2014-07-03T02:43:14Z")
Are you on latest? Did you hard refresh after changing that setting?
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### Author:  [@BhaelOchon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BhaelOchon)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 2:44오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/3 "2014-07-03T02:44:42Z")
Also, can’t admins post to uncategorized regardless of that setting?
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### Author:  [@leichtgewicht](https://meta.discourse.org/u/leichtgewicht)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 3:49오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/4 "2014-07-03T03:49:37Z")
(note: i am running 0.9.9.11)
Actually it seems to be allowed as admin(which explains my screenshots) (note: it would be nice if there was a text showing that this category is available because I am admin). However: I was investigating this on behalf of a user of mine. He created a topic and it showed the first category as selected (so: he doesn’t select a category explicitly) and when he submits that post it will show a error message that he is not allowed to see that category. When I check that post it is marked as “uncategorised”.
Usability-wise I would love to see that it shows “not selected” in the dropdown (for both admins and regular users) when uncategorised is not allowed.
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 2:48오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/5 "2014-07-03T14:48:22Z")
> [@leichtgewicht](#):
>
> it shows “not selected” in the dropdown (for both admins and regular users) when uncategorised is not allowed.
That’s exactly what happens for regular users.
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### Author:  [@leichtgewicht](https://meta.discourse.org/u/leichtgewicht)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 3:14오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/6 "2014-07-03T15:14:36Z")
It is not what is happening here. Not sure what I configured wrong. [Here is a screencast](https://www.dropbox.com/s/kphqnvhxilj54po/collab_not_working.mov)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 3, 2014, 8:12오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/7 "2014-07-03T20:12:16Z")
@techAPJ can you repro this on your digital ocean instance?
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### Author:  [@techAPJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/techAPJ)
#### Post date: [7월 4, 2014, 2:44오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/8 "2014-07-04T14:44:06Z")
I just deployed a fresh Discourse instance, and here’s what I found out in my testing with `allow uncategorized topics` option disabled:
- When I try to create topic as **Admin** , category defaults to **uncategorized**.
- When I try to create topic as **normal user** , category defaults to **Select a category** , which is just a placeholder and has a validation to select at least one category.
> [@leichtgewicht](#):
>
> when he submits that post it will show a error message that he is not allowed to see that category
I am not able to repro this.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 4, 2014, 6:55오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/9 "2014-07-04T18:55:02Z")
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 5, 2014, 5:06오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/10 "2014-07-05T17:06:23Z")
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 5, 2014, 5:07오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/11 "2014-07-05T17:07:28Z")
Reopened per @leichtgewicht request.
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### Author:  [@ljpp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ljpp)
#### Post date: [9월 29, 2014, 7:02오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/12 "2014-09-29T19:02:37Z")
It looks like that **Uncategorized** is the default category for the new posts by Admin or Moderator rank user, even if I have it disabled. Running docked Discourse 1.0.2 at Digital Ocean.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [9월 29, 2014, 7:04오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/13 "2014-09-29T19:04:06Z")
Correct, admins and staff can always choose any category they like for a topic, including uncategorized. One of their powers.
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### Author:  [@kmoe](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kmoe)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 1:25오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/14 "2014-11-19T13:25:35Z")
Is there any way to change this? It seems a bit odd to have the category default to Uncategorized even if you’ve disabled it.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 1:39오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/15 "2014-11-19T13:39:50Z")
Yeah, I get hit by this all of the time. I’ll navigate to a category, create a new topic, hit Create Topic and then go “Oh crap, I didn’t mean for that to be in Uncategorized, I wanted it in the private category I was just in!”
Happens way too often for me (you’d think I would have learned my lesson after the first 3 times…)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 5:40오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/16 "2014-11-19T17:40:09Z")
> [@cpradio](#):
>
> I’ll navigate to a category, create a new topic, hit Create Topic and then go “Oh crap, I didn’t mean for that to be in Uncategorized, I wanted it in the private category I was just in!”
Odd, I just navigated to the “movies” category on try, clicked “New Topic”, and I get ..
so the default category is indeed determined by the category you’re currently on when you select “New Topic”. (This also works for private categories in my testing)
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 5:45오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/17 "2014-11-19T17:45:12Z")
Ah, you know what it is. I use Reply as New Topic, and that doesn’t (nor should it). I just need to get in the habit of selecting a category.
It would be nice though to have “Select a category…” choosen by default instead of Uncategorized, so I have to actually select a category (instead of not selecting one and Uncategorized getting used automatically).
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 5:56오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/18 "2014-11-19T17:56:41Z")
> [@cpradio](#):
>
> I use Reply as New Topic, and that doesn’t (nor should it). I just need to get in the habit of selecting a category.
Maybe reply as new topic should default to the current category, though. This is still a bit of an edge case.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 6:31오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/19 "2014-11-19T18:31:52Z")
Or to “Select a category…” instead of “Uncategorized”. I’m not sure why anyone would want Uncategorized to be the default, but that’s just me 😄
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2014, 9:04오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142/20 "2014-11-19T21:04:38Z")
Except on increasingly rare occasions when I’m tired or distracted I’m used to selecting the category when I “Reply as”.
Since we use it _almost_ exclusively to create private discussions I see no great concern having an Uncategorized category as long as it’s private.
But as @TechnoBear had an incident where the member saw her post, I’m guessing Uncategorized is not so much “private” as it is “unlisted” (i.e. the member followed the gutter link to it)
[다음 페이지](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallowing-uncategorized-entries-still-offers-uncategorized-as-default-category/17142.md?page=2)