Feature request: "redirect" "New Topic" button to a valid category when user doesn't have permission to post somewhere

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AI-generated summary

In a discussion about improving user experience for forums with read-only top-level categories, mattdm proposes re-enabling the “New Topic” button in such categories but redirecting users to a permitted subcategory by default — helping both new users avoid confusion and moderators avoid accidental misposts. awesomerobot supports the idea, suggesting the button could either preselect a valid subcategory or open the composer without a category selected, and asks whether moderators should still be able to manually switch to the restricted category or if it should be hidden entirely. mattdm agrees the restricted category should be hidden in the composer for non-permitted users, with normal category permissions determining who can post there intentionally — though he notes an ideal system might require moderators to explicitly unlock posting in such categories. He also suggests that if no subcategories allow posting, the button should either be hidden or disabled with explanatory hover text. The thread reflects a broader desire to make permission boundaries clearer and more intuitive without sacrificing flexibility for admins or moderators.

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I have a forum with a “read only” category which contains intro / overview posts and frequently asked questions, and of which actual conversation is supposed to happen in a sub-category.

Right now, that top-level category has a grayed-out New Topic button:

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… which to an experienced user might mean “you don’t have permissions to post in this category, but pick a subcategory, and maybe you can post there!” — but to an inexperienced user can just seem confusing. I’d like to re-enable that button, but configured to populate the category in the new topic composer with one of the subcategories.

I’d actually like this to also change the default for moderators and admins who can accidentally ignore site posting permissions (maybe without even recognizing that that’s not where they mean to be posting). That would make it easier to keep consistent with a “no posts in the first-level category” policy.

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Muted categories in composer?
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Keeping the button enabled and forcing another available category might be a good default :thinking: (or maybe at least opening the composer without a category preselected). It’s not incredibly frequent, but we have gotten feedback about the disabled button being confusing before…

Would these moderators and admins still be able to switch to the “incorrect” category from the composer, or would it ideally be hidden there too?

Would there need to be some mechanism (a special group?) to determine who could intentionally post in the closed category?

In the event that there are no available subcategories that can be posted in, would it be better to hide the new topic button, rather than making it appear disabled?

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That is what I was thinking, yeah. (I’d prefer there also be a step of “I am a moderator — unlock posting here”, but I know that’s complicated.)

I think just the normal category permissions?

Or disabled with hover text explaining why?

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