# Discourse Topic Voting **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-topic-voting/40121 **Category:** Plugin **Tags:** official, topic-voting, included-in-core **Created:** [February 24, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-topic-voting/40121 "2016-02-24T20:59:09Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 1
### Author: ![Discourse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/discourse/32/148734_2.png) [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse) #### Post date: [February 24, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-topic-voting/40121/1 "2016-02-24T20:59:09Z")
| | | | | --- | --- | --- | | :discourse2: | **Summary** | **Discourse Topic Voting** lets community members vote on topics in designated categories. | | 📖 | **Install Guide** | **This plugin is bundled with Discourse core**. There is no need to install the plugin separately. | > [@](#): > > :discourse2: As this is an #official plugin maintained by the Discourse team, #Support, #Contribute > Bug, #Contribute > UX, and #Contribute > Feature requests can be made in the respective categories here on Meta, and tagged with the appropriate plugin tag. Click on a link below to get one started. 👍 > > [❓ **Support**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=6&body=%3E%20Before%20asking,%20did%20you%20search%20first%3F%20Press%20%F0%9F%94%8D%20at%20the%20upper%20right%20to%20search.&tags=topic-voting "Ask for support on configuring and using Discourse Voting") [🐛 **Bug**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=1&tags=topic-voting "A bug report means something is broken, preventing normal/typical use of the plugin") [👀 **UX**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=9&tags=topic-voting "Discussion about the user interface of Discourse Voting, and how features are presented (including language and UI elements)") [💡 **Feature**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=2&tags=topic-voting "Discussion about how existing Discourse Voting features can be improved or enhanced, and how proposed new features could work") While **Discourse Topic Voting** can be used for a variety of use cases, this documentation is focused on the primary use case of an ideas or feature request category. > :discourse2: **Note:** Discourse Topic Voting is available on the **Business** or **Enterprise** plans. ## Setting up an ideas category When creating a new category, select the **ideas** type to turn on Discourse Topic Voting for that category. ![Select the ideas category type to leverage Discourse Topic Voting.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/1/2/a12c38d90eb1f7bea7ff2ed306a090f47b92f234.png) The **Category name** and **Style** fields will be present with sensible defaults, which you can overwrite if needed. ![The General tab shows basic settings about the category.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/3/4/0/340438b06c64181446e4527f999add89d1dc275b.png) > **Note:** When you are editing an existing category, the **Category type** field will let you add or remove category types. Category types can be combined so you can use features like voting and marketing answers as solutions (via [Discourse Solved](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-solved/30155)) together. > > ![The category type selector is shown when editing an existing category.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/2/d/7/2d763a70e5d8cb745dc0e4c06cbe492d50b1a21e.png) On the **Ideas** tab, you can adjust some of the default settings for this and any other ideas categories in your community. ![The Ideas tab shows the settings related to the ideas category type.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/5/9/3/5936154c1e207c3f87d865ed96dc4a5d830891c7.png) - **Show who voted** : Allow users to see who voted for a topic. - **Show votes on profile** : Allow users to see their own votes in their activity feed. This is most important when votes are limited. - **Limit member votes** : When enabled, members can only cast a certain number of votes based on their [trust level](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-trust-levels-a-detailed-explanation/396792). ## Voting for a topic Members can vote for topics in ideas categories by interacting with the counter in the topic header. ![The vote button and count in the topic header.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/7/b/3/7b364e681ffe87701d0801074b743169b1260bc8.png) Inside an ideas category, members can click the **Votes** top menu item to sort ideas by their vote count. The **My Votes** top menu item filters to only show topics they’ve voted for. In addition to the counter inside a topic, you can also see votes on the topic card. ![The "Votes" and "My Votes" top menu items allow members to sort and filter the topic list by votes. Votes are shown on the topic card.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/6/5/4/65433d4bfcb6e6172a0fb2ecd89b6b603798c48f.png) Here are the views a user will see before and after voting in a topic: ![Vote count before voting.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/c/5/cc5956471272d747115cbc94d07b24b5b1232445.png) ![Vote count after voting.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/3/e/9/3e942cb92de8e766f6e984b6d931f95b5e6113ea.png) When `show votes on profile` is enabled, there is also a section in the user’s profile page that displays their active votes: ![When "Show votes on profile" is enabled, members can view their own votes in the profile.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/1/4/6/146fd39f45dd857b4e1b8d5bc774c824b14e6c06.png) > **Note:** In ideas categories, Likes are automatically deactivated. To use both likes and votes at the same time, see: [Show both like and vote button on topics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/show-both-like-and-vote-button-on-topics/101252/) ### Limiting votes When **Limit member votes** is enabled, members only have a certain number of available votes. When a vote is cast, that is called an “active vote”. Vote limits are meant to encourage thoughtful voting on the topics that matter most. - The vote limit is determined by trust level; see the above section for more details. - Each user can cast only one vote per topic. - Votes are locked when a topic is closed or archived, but the votes are no longer considered active. The members who cast these votes will have their one vote from that topic restored to their pool of available votes. - If a topic is re-opened or unarchived, the votes are reclaimed and applied back to the users’ Active Vote count. - If a topic reclaims the votes of a user, causing them to exceed their Active Vote limit, they simply need to wait until topics are closed or archived to allow them to vote again. - If an entire topic (Topic A) is merged into another Topic-Voting topic (Topic B), all the the following takes place: 1. Unique votes from Topic A are added to Topic B. 2. Duplicated votes (the same user voted in both topics) from Topic A will **not** be added to Topic B. Instead, the vote from Topic A will be restored to the user’s pool of available votes. 3. Topic A’s vote count is set to zero and the topic is closed so that no further voting can take place in Topic A. ## Settings | Name | Description | | --- | --- | | `topic voting enabled` | Allow users to vote on topics? | | `topic voting enable vote limits` | Limit the number of votes per user based on trust level. When disabled, members can vote on as many topics as they want. | | `topic voting show who voted` | Allow users to see who voted? | | `topic voting show votes on profile` | Allow users to see their votes in their activity feed? | | `topic voting alert votes left` | Alert user when this many votes are left | | `topic voting tl0 vote limit` | How many active votes are TL0 users allowed? | | `topic voting tl1 vote limit` | How many active votes are TL1 users allowed? | | `topic voting tl2 vote limit` | How many active votes are TL2 users allowed? | | `topic voting tl3 vote limit` | How many active votes are TL3 users allowed? | | `topic voting tl4 vote limit` | How many active votes are TL4 users allowed? | > **Note:** The `topic voting alert votes left` and various `topic voting TLN vote limit` settings only apply when `topic voting enable vote limits` is enabled. ## Topic Voting badges > ℹ These badges are disabled by default. You can enable them in the **Badges** area in the admin settings. | Name | Description | Long Description | Type | Grouping | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Daydreamer** | Receive a vote on your topic | This badge is granted for receiving a vote on one of your topics. ✅ Nice idea. 👍 | 🥉 | Community | | **Brainstormer** | Receive 5 votes on your topic | This badge is granted for receiving 5 votes on one of your topics. ✅ Your topic is getting traction. | 🥈 | Community | | **Innovator** | Receive 15 votes on your topic | This badge is granted for receiving 15 votes on one of your topics. ✅ So good it can’t be ignored. | 🥈 | Community | | **Visionary** | Receive 25 votes on your topic | This badge is granted for receiving 25 votes on one of your topics. ✅ Give the people what they want! 👏 | 🥇 | Community | ## [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) queries List people who voted for a topic along with their email addresses: ```sql --[params] -- int :topic_id SELECT tvv.user_id, email FROM topic_voting_votes tvv JOIN user_emails ue ON ue.user_id = tvv.user_id WHERE topic_id = :topic_id AND ue.primary = true ``` More explorer queries can be found in #Community Building > Data & reporting - [Topics tagged topic-voting](https://meta.discourse.org/tags/c/community-building/data-reporting/148/topic-voting/231) > Last edited by @lindsey 2026-06-17T18:17:18Z > > > **Check document** > > > > Perform check on document: --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-topic-voting/40121)._