# Inconsistent behavior with \`chat max direct message users\` setting

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/inconsistent-behavior-with-chat-max-direct-message-users-setting/369971
**Category:** Bug
**Tags:** chat
**Created:** [June 12, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inconsistent-behavior-with-chat-max-direct-message-users-setting/369971 "2025-06-12T22:39:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inconsistent-behavior-with-chat-max-direct-message-users-setting/369971/1 "2025-06-12T22:39:04Z")

</div>

[How to disable Group chat? - #4 by sallypf](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-disable-group-chat/368709/4) has made me think about whether 1 or 2 is the correct choice to limit chats to two members. So I tried, and for testing purposes, I reduced `chat max direct message users` to two. Then I created two users and a group to which I added these two users.

 ![chat max direct message users: Users cannot add more than this number of other users when creating a new direct message. Set to 0 to only allow messages to oneself. Staff are exempt from this setting.](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/5/6/a561320ecaaf1c457d6c15f32b3dfd65711e8188.png)

I have the impression that the effect of the setting is inconsistent.

### Creating a group chat by adding individual users:

1. Click + to create a new chat
2. Select “new group chat”
3. Add the users you created; notice it says 2/2 members  
 ![2/2 members](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/0/7/1/071c4b33273c742ce18071f20a7c3e37d9396a8c.png)
4. Check the members of the created chat  
 ![3 members](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/e/1/fe104ea3c38c977869424875d4f02835e6f24c43.png)  
Because you were added too, the chat actually has 3 members.
5. Try to add a member; it doesn’t work because there are 3/2 members  
 ![3/2 members](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/2/4/0/2407db2062728399337a32beedc9fd73b491eb56.png)
6. Remove one of the users
7. Try to add them; it doesn’t work because there are already 2/2 members  
 ![2/2 members](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/7/7/7/777bb2e9a2b724a8e9947cd380ce1377f33952b7.png)

### Creating a group chat by adding a group:

1. Click + to create a new chat
2. Enter the group’s name; you aren’t allowed to create a group chat because the group has two members.  
 ![group has too many members (2)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/3/8/9/3892aa669547cf2d261d47640ae8663fc5b5dbe4.png)

This makes me wonder: is the chat creator counted toward the limit or not?

When creating a chat by adding two individual users, it works - even though that results in 3 members once the chat is created (because I’m included too). But if I try to create the same chat using a group with two users, it’s not allowed. After creation, I also can’t add a second user if one is already in the chat with me, which suggests that I _am_ counted at that point.

The description of the `chat max direct message users` setting says that setting it to 0 means users can only message themselves. That would only make sense if the current user isn’t counted. So in that sense, the behavior during creation seems to match what the description says. But then I’d expect the limit _after_ creation to also allow 3 members total (me + 2), and that creating a chat with a group with 2 members should work the same way.

Right now, creating a chat with two users only works in one case — by adding them individually — and that feels inconsistent.

* * *

And by the way, I did all this as an admin, so I am not sure the

> Staff are exempt from this setting

in the description is true.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inconsistent-behavior-with-chat-max-direct-message-users-setting/369971)._