# Discourse as private forum
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-private-forum/137176
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 27, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-private-forum/137176 "2019-12-27T16:53:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@harmstra](https://meta.discourse.org/u/harmstra)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-private-forum/137176/1 "2019-12-27T16:53:34Z")
Is it possible to use Discourse as a private discussion platform ? So that you can only read posts after registration?
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-private-forum/137176/2 "2019-12-27T16:58:52Z")
Yes.
You can lock the entire forum using the site setting `login_required` or lock individual categories in their settings.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-private-forum/137176/3 "2019-12-28T00:13:02Z")
Yes, this is a simple configuration step in the new site setup wizard which runs after install.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-private-forum/137176/4 "2020-01-27T00:13:02Z")
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