# Failed filtering is difficult to escape

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/failed-filtering-is-difficult-to-escape/375607
**Category:** UX
**Tags:** topic-filter
**Created:** [July 24, 2025, 10:16am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/failed-filtering-is-difficult-to-escape/375607 "2025-07-24T10:16:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2025, 10:16am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/failed-filtering-is-difficult-to-escape/375607/1 "2025-07-24T10:16:09Z")

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When filtering with the topic filter fails \[1\] it’s very difficult to get back to /filter to try filtering for different criteria because the link in the sidebar remembers what you filtered last.

I know filters are in general quite sticky ([How do I remove the user filter at the groups page?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-remove-the-user-filter-at-the-groups-page/316503)), but in those cases you do not only get an error.

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1. I am not sure why it fails in this case I tried an example from the documentation topic

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### Author: ![chapoi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/chapoi/32/537252_2.png) [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/failed-filtering-is-difficult-to-escape/375607/2 "2025-08-01T15:09:54Z")

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I can repro this @sam Need a hard reload to access the page again.

Also no idea why it fails tho.

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### Author: ![awesomerobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/awesomerobot/32/142900_2.png) [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/failed-filtering-is-difficult-to-escape/375607/3 "2025-08-01T17:12:51Z")

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Seems to fail when you combine `created-by` and `views-` specifically

I get a little more detail in logs locally: `column reference "views" is ambiguous`

This seems to fix it

[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/34033](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/34033)

(still hard to escape the error state when it happens tho)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/failed-filtering-is-difficult-to-escape/375607/4 "2025-08-21T02:18:39Z")

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> [@awesomerobot](#):
>
> (still hard to escape the error state when it happens tho)

I think this is generally fine cause 500s are not something we should ever leave in the app anyway.