# Error message for post approval when topic is closed needs improving

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/error-message-for-post-approval-when-topic-is-closed-needs-improving/84193
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [March 30, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/error-message-for-post-approval-when-topic-is-closed-needs-improving/84193 "2018-03-30T02:32:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/error-message-for-post-approval-when-topic-is-closed-needs-improving/84193/1 "2018-03-30T02:32:12Z")

</div>

This came up in chat for another site I moderate:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/2/7/274921459f99377ffdcf972f2bae8d1db927196b.jpg)

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/optimized/3X/2/9/2942098cc0130d91ecda6cd9bab1e7aa213e467c_2_690x44.png)

It looks like moderators who try to approve a post in a topic that was closed while the post was in the approval queue get the same message as a regular user who opens the composer prior to a topic being closed. We should give staff a different error message.

The error is correct - the topic is closed - but the error doesn’t tell staff what they need to do.