Discourse Private Replies

Plugin
61

Is it work now?

62

Instead of managing security through Group User/Trust Level
Can public users send requests to view content to Replies?

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Could you please let me know if there is a feature in your plugin that prevents private replies from being made public through a secondary setting? I’m looking for a way to ensure that private replies remain confidential. Thank you!

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Please see the plugin settings:

  • private_replies_min_trust_level_to_see_all : users with this trust level can see all replies. Default 4. Set to 5 to disable.
  • private_replies_groups_can_see_all: users in this group can see all replies. Default staff.
  • private_replies_topic_starter_primary_group_can_see_all: users in the same primary group as the topic starter can see all replies. Default false.

Also, certain plugins like AI and AI-topic-summary might not respect the private replies, so it is not recommended to enable them on categories that have private replies enabled.

4 Likes
65

Is there a way to allow the option for replies to be visible only to the topic owner when the post is made, without giving the topic owner the ability to later make those replies public? Thank you for considering this!

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The topic starter can simply refrain from pressing the button.

If you don’t trust the topic starter and you’re afraid they will do it on purpose then you should be aware that the topic starter can make the replies public in other ways (like posting a screenshot or quoting the replies in their reply) and this is something that cannot be prevented.

If your problem is that the topic starter will make the replies visible by accident then you could use CSS to hide the button that makes the replies public.

3 Likes
67

hi @RGJ,

i work in a university and use discourse to give out/collect written assignments.

up until now, my students just replied to a topic that i opened and i encouraged to read what others have replied before and to interact with each other. for me it did not matter if they got inspired by their peers for their own text.

now with ChatGPT etc. overly present, I am noticing that some students stopped writing themselves but asked ChatGPT to paraphrase what other students have written. but i still would like them to interact, so my workflow would be the following

  1. write by yourself without knowing what others have written
  2. comment on three texts

So, for me it would be great if your plugin would not wait for me to turn the posts visible by all - but to show all posts immediately once a person has written something on their own.

would that be feasible? what would be the rough ball park for a suitable payment for this service?

1 Like
68

That’s very much like what I used to do when I started using Discourse. I even had a script that would take a spreadsheet downloaded from the LMS, check whether students had posted topics/posts that I had :heart:ed (I used a different tag for each assignment, I think), and update the spreadsheet so that I could upload it back to the LMS and have it entered in the gradebook. I was pretty happy with it, though I may be happier to no longer be involved in Higher Education. :slight_smile:

If Richard isn’t interested in adding it to Private Replies, I might be interested in writing a separate theme component.

Did someone answer that theme components change only the front end, so they can only hide stuff. Someone with tech skills and patience could get the information (as simply as contructing a URL like Discourse Private Replies (and then just look for “cooked”). To keep it from getting in the json load that’s delivered to the browser, you’ll need a plugin. Whether your students will be sufficiently thwarted by having the text hidden is hard to know.,

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i would be fine with a theme component - i even would prefer it, as it is less hustle to maintain for me. and in my use case it is totally ok if it is simply hidden/display: none. I guess, in that case it might even be possible to make the “switch” on the OP (which I would prefer) and not on the category. the result would preferably be open source. @pfaffman - send me a quote … but also keep universities budgets in mind : )

p.s.: haha, a script which would extract my likes and connect it to usernames/LMS in a csv - that would be so cute. but for now i will stick with manual labour : ) … i know exactly what you mean with higher education … but here in Germany it’s still okish - it can be at least and i am still content.

1 Like
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I like the idea and I will add this in the next few weeks :+1:
If I forget, don’t hesitate to remind me.

4 Likes
71

awesome. thanks.

my next course will only start in mid october - so no worries - and if it doesn’t happen until then, the next chance is in february : )

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Quick feedback: It might make sense to disable the “reply” button in each individual post. We just noticed that on replies to inditiveal posts, the user account or the referenced post is displayed in the reply.