# Hiding/deleting topic "about the xxx category" **URL:** \ **Category:** UX\ **Created:** [2017年十月21日 11:51 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530 "2017-10-21T11:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![testingsoftware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@testingsoftware](https://meta.discourse.org/u/testingsoftware)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 11:51 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/1 "2017-10-21T11:51:24Z")
Hi all, I was trying to delete the topic “about the xxx category” because I have some categories that don’t need description. Thanks to codinghorror and schungx i realised that it cannot be deleted but just hidden away from users which is not my ideal but it does work and allows for future use. When trying to delete it even asks for confirmation of deletion but it does nothing, the topic just remains selected. Wouldn’t be more user friendly if: - it’d say “you cannot delete this topic” or “this topic is linked to the description of your category and cannot be deleted” - allow deletion if description not added when creating category or simply Admin wants to delete it. ---
**Author:** ![fefrei](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fefrei/32/119538_2.png) [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 11:53 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/2 "2017-10-21T11:53:56Z")
Where do you see the option to delete this topic? It doesn’t show up for me: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/e/e/ee2366b2a6821a94a9704ab6c6ac475a1ea27dcb.png) ---
**Author:** ![testingsoftware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@testingsoftware](https://meta.discourse.org/u/testingsoftware)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 12:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/3 "2017-10-21T12:14:12Z")
Select Posts ![select](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/5/4/544230f64a7e90f529f645f024a4030f7ec612df.JPG) Click “delete” selected and it will ask for confirmation of deletion ![confirmdeletetion](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/3/2/32d1e96255e65c3f825b3b59c1f34d6ad304477c.JPG) After OK it remains as the first screengrab ---
**Author:** ![fefrei](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fefrei/32/119538_2.png) [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 15:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/4 "2017-10-21T15:28:04Z")
Ah, good catch! This should be fixed and show a proper error message. I also found another path, via bulk actions: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/c/5/c5cd2dc0329e783624d89a62e539e666dab26fcf.jpg) ---
**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:** [2017年十月21日 15:32 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/5 "2017-10-21T15:32:05Z")
How would this work? If I select 20 topics including the about category topic, and click delete, what exactly happens next? ---
**Author:** ![fefrei](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fefrei/32/119538_2.png) [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 15:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/6 "2017-10-21T15:34:15Z")
I tried only selecting the About topic (as you can barely see in the background). Deletion appears to work (without any confirmation) but has no effect. A good reaction would be an error message stating that About topics cannot be deleted. (If multiple topics were selected, I’d go for deleting the other topics and showing an error message.) ---
**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:** [2017年十月21日 15:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/7 "2017-10-21T15:35:05Z")
> [@fefrei](#): > > If multiple topics were selected, I’d go for deleting the other topics and showing an error message That was what I was curious about (should have been more specific). ---
**Author:** ![testingsoftware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@testingsoftware](https://meta.discourse.org/u/testingsoftware)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 15:36 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/8 "2017-10-21T15:36:10Z")
Just tried and it does delete the topics marked except for the “about the category”. and indeed, without confirmation of deletion as Felix says. ---
**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:** [2017年十月21日 15:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/9 "2017-10-21T15:38:35Z")
So if I understand both of you correctly, you’d be happy if there was an error message that said something like: > Cannot delete “about this category” topics. X other [topics/posts] deleted. ---
**Author:** ![fefrei](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fefrei/32/119538_2.png) [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 15:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/10 "2017-10-21T15:46:51Z")
That would be perfect ❤ (That, plus a similar error message for trying to bulk-delete posts including the undeletable original post as per @testingsoftware.) ---
**Author:** ![testingsoftware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@testingsoftware](https://meta.discourse.org/u/testingsoftware)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 16:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/11 "2017-10-21T16:52:41Z")
That sounds good. It would work for either trying to delete only the description topic and if trying with more at the same time. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 20:43 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/12 "2017-10-21T20:43:58Z")
Not needed, the deletion can simply be skipped in this case (for batches). Otherwise we are creating extra busywork to cover a pretty rare situation. ---
**Author:** ![testingsoftware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@testingsoftware](https://meta.discourse.org/u/testingsoftware)\ **Post date:** [2017年十月21日 21:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/hiding-deleting-topic-about-the-xxx-category/72530/13 "2017-10-21T21:03:02Z")
Leaving it like this is fine with me as I know now how the software behaves. Although it is good practice to have feedback for actions that cannot be done or not allowing users get that far.