# Identifying special users (staff view only)
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 4, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359 "2020-03-04T23:08:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tkearsley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tkearsley)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/1 "2020-03-04T23:08:03Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Assigning User Tags](https://meta.discourse.org/t/assigning-user-tags/119290/2):
I want to have selected members display a tag automatically when they create a topic.
I will call these VIP members. When support staff is going through the topic list, the “VIP” tag will make it easy to know who these folks are. I cannot use a flair, because this needs to be hidden and only staff can see. Plus the flair will not display in the topic lists.
I have assigned a tag to a group, but I am not getting the expected behavior. Is this even possible?
Thanks,
Tom
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/2 "2020-03-04T23:29:38Z")
I believe that you’ll need a custom plugin to automatically assign the staff-only tag to topics created by members of that group.
EDIT: But if you just want to be able to see it, I think you can make a theme component that would mark those topics just for staff.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/3 "2020-03-05T00:18:42Z")
Isn’t having to parse the whole topic list in latest looking for visual clues in _some_ rows a really cumbersome way to keeping track of a subset of users interactions?
I’d recommend looking for a group post list, which will be a filtered view with only VIP interactions and from where you can easily jump into the related topic with a single click.
Example Discourse Team feed: [https://meta.discourse.org/g/team/activity/posts](https://meta.discourse.org/g/team/activity/posts)
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### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2020, 11:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/4 "2020-03-05T11:26:42Z")
I am not sure if this would do the trick or not. But there is a Follow plugin to subscribe to users.
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### Author:  [@tkearsley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tkearsley)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/5 "2020-03-05T15:57:04Z")
@Falco, I actually have this set up to demo to the support team. I agree that this is easier than scrolling through the topic lists.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/6 "2024-02-18T00:42:01Z")
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/identifying-special-users-staff-view-only/143359/7 "2024-03-19T00:42:28Z")
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