# Have to manually set date for "forever" slow mode
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** slow-mode
**Created:** [April 30, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718 "2021-04-30T15:51:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FroggyC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/FroggyC)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/1 "2021-04-30T15:51:02Z")
I’ve noticed in the last version of Discourse one cannot set Slow Mode indefinitely on a topic.
This is a big problem for us. There are certain threads that I would like to have permanent slow mode on, just because of the topic. It makes moderating much easier knowing they won’t blow up if I’m not looking at it.
I would ask you reconsider this change.
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 4:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/2 "2021-04-30T16:41:50Z")
Hello FroggyC,
I’m unsure when this changed however there have been a few topics such as this [Issues when using slow mode on a topic forever](https://meta.discourse.org/t/issues-when-using-slow-mode-on-a-topic-forever/186607) stating their opinions on allowing slow mode forever.
Topic slow mode as Jeff pointed out below is not designed to be used permanently it seems non sensical to bring it back too since a topic won’t last forever since it will auto close once it reaches a certain number of replies. Perhaps you can select a custom date and time like this? Maybe don’t make the date as ridiculous as mine as it was just for demonstration 😅
> [@Issues when using slow mode on a topic forever](https://meta.discourse.org/t/issues-when-using-slow-mode-on-a-topic-forever/186607/9):
>
> **permanent slow mode** wasn’t something we really designed for
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### Author:  [@FroggyC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/FroggyC)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/3 "2021-04-30T17:04:25Z")
We do not autoclose topics on my forum, as we don’t think necroposting is bad. Any discussion can be picked up again, and if it goes off topic we can split it.
Sure, picking a ridiculous date seems like a good stopgap. And I understand that the main usecase would be for limited slow mode.
But ideally forever slowmode should still be available, and this should be reflected in the UI better – something like a “Forever” option after the “Six Months” one would do it for me.
The backend obviously already allows for this, so it would just be a small UI change – a worthwile one, in my opinion.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/4 "2021-04-30T17:22:22Z")
Hmm @andrei handled that, supposedly “forever” was an item in the list, just like it is for suspensions – is it not? Did you scroll down? Perhaps we missed that item in the to-do list for the feature.
In the meantime, you can simply set it very far in the future. I don’t really see a problem here. You have the ability to do what you need to do. Set it to 2050. If your forum is around in 2050, then you can worry about it at that time 😉
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### Author:  [@andrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/andrei)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/5 "2021-04-30T17:47:05Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> supposedly “forever” was an item in the list, just like it is for suspensions
No, there wasn’t the “forever” item in that list. We haven’t touched content of that list yet. But what we did is that we made the _“Enabled until”_ field mandatory. Because of this, it’s impossible now to turn on Slow Mode forever.
And yes, it was a conscious design decision and if someone still needs infinite slow mode the solution would be simply to set it very far in the future.
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### Author:  [@FroggyC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/FroggyC)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/6 "2021-04-30T17:48:54Z")
The workaround of picking a ridiculous date into the future indeed turns this from a problem to an inconvenience, so thank you for that.
However, my suggestion to add “Forever” to the list still stands, I think. The option is not present in the list.
If you look at the [thread linked a few messages ago](https://meta.discourse.org/t/issues-when-using-slow-mode-on-a-topic-forever/186607/9) by @ondrej, several people including me seem to be using the feature this way, so I would think there is a legitimate argument for this use case to be included in the UI.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-to-manually-set-date-for-forever-slow-mode/188718/7 "2021-04-30T19:39:21Z")
Ok, noted, you have a 5-10 second workaround that you can apply as needed for now.