# Flag option "convert into PM"
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [April 25, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932 "2015-04-25T04:50:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rubo77](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rubo77)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/1 "2015-04-25T04:50:46Z")
Often one big problem is that users feel attacked and answer in a topic whereas a private massage would have been enough.
If there was a flag option to move a message into a private conversation this would preserve that only posts staff public that are of a lot of public interest.
There even could be a heuristic, that tries to detect such posts. And a button for the author at the latest post to convert into pm directly.
Especially for new users such a button would be a big benefit for the forum
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/2 "2015-04-29T04:51:44Z")
I don’t know… this sounds very complicated, I am not seeing the use case here.
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### Author:  [@rubo77](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rubo77)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/3 "2015-04-29T10:59:41Z")
I think many topics end up being a chat between just two users that could have been solved outside the topic.
On the goal, to get clean, valuable interesting topics, It would be a good advise to “chat” in private messages and only post in the topic if you have to say something of global interest
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Newsom](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tom_Newsom)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/4 "2015-11-25T16:26:11Z")
Excuse the bump, but I was searching something else and this topic popped up. Earlier today I saw a thread on another forum that would have benefited from this feature. A thread had got rather personal, with just a handful of posters discussing sensitive issues. At the request of the participants, the moderators deleted the thread and the posters continued the conversation in PM.
What would have been good (and should be easy, given the common underlying framework) is to convert the Topic into a Conversation, with all posters on that Topic as participants.
I think of it as a “get a room you guys” button.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/5 "2015-11-25T21:49:59Z")
It has come up a few times, for sure.
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### Author:  [@rubo77](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rubo77)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/6 "2015-11-25T21:57:06Z")
That would be great, to mark a whole topic as “private visible only to participants”
If a topic got “spammed” with such a private conversation, those posts could easily be moved into a new thread and that new thread could be marked private then 😉
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Newsom](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tom_Newsom)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/7 "2015-11-25T22:26:38Z")
**You have selected 20 posts**
Delete Selected
Move to new thread
Move to existing thread
_Move to new private message_
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### Author:  [@rubo77](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rubo77)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/8 "2015-11-26T01:25:05Z")
> [@Tom\_Newsom](#):
>
> Move to new private message
I woud say “move to new private conversation”
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/9 "2016-01-11T22:54:09Z")
Between @watchmanmonitor and others, this has been requested enough to be on my radar..
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/10 "2016-01-12T01:48:47Z")
This request about redirecting incoming posts which were held for approval is related.
> [@Redirect / convert post from Pending Approval to Direct Message?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/):
>
> When dealing with messages to be approved, it’d be very helpful to redirect the post to direct message. This way, we could hash out what the user was really asking for, etc. Is this something we could see added to the Discourse feature list?
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### Author:  [@techAPJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/techAPJ)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/11 "2016-05-03T20:45:47Z")
This feature is now available! 🎁
> [@Convert a private message to public topic or vice versa](https://meta.discourse.org/t/convert-a-private-message-to-public-topic-or-vice-versa/43635):
>
> I just [pushed](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/acfb5409522d2cdc71d22145c8d627db3e349c33) a commit that adds a button (visible to staff) to admin wrench to make a topic public or private message. Convert public topic to private message: Small action post indicating that public topic is converted to private message: Convert private message to public topic: Small action post indicating that private message is converted to public topic:
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### Author:  [@techAPJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/techAPJ)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/flag-option-convert-into-pm/27932/12 "2016-05-03T20:45:53Z")