Is there a way to limit who can use a certain tag?

Product Support

AI-generated summary

Users are discussing how to restrict tag usage to specific user groups in Discourse. civitas_john wants to limit the “Homepage” tag to prevent misuse. mattdm confirms this is possible via tag groups and user group restrictions. Tris20 provides detailed steps: create a tag group via /tag_groups, assign tags, and restrict access by user group — with an example image showing the cicd-standard tag restricted to admins/bots. Jagster adds a caveat: if the forum locale isn’t English, automatic groups (like trust levels) may not work due to translated names — a known issue. JammyDodger questions this, but Jagster cites prior topics (including one by Moin) confirming the bug. JammyDodger shows the UI dropdown appears to work, but Jagster clarifies the selection disappears after saving, proving it’s nonfunctional. The conversation continues in a meta topic where JammyDodger documents the bug for non-English locales.

1

For example, we may want a specific tag called “Homepage”, and then display recent “Homepage” posts on our main website. If we allow all users to choose this tag, it would become a mess. So, I wonder if there is a way to achieve this end - that only certain (groups of) users can use certain tags.

2

Yes. You can create a tag group, and then restrict use of tags in that group to certain users (also by group, but a different kind of group!)

3

Just to expand a bit on @mattdm’s response, below are the steps you can take to achieve this functionality :slight_smile:

Step 1: Create a Tag Group

  1. Go to your Tag Group panel. This can be accessed by appending /tag_groups to your forum’s URL (e.g., https://yourforum.discourse.org/tag_groups).
  2. Here, click on the New button to create a new tag group.
  3. Fill in the necessary details for your tag group:
  • Name: The name of your tag group.
  • Tag names: The tags that you want to include in this group. You can either select from existing tags or create new ones.
  • Optional settings such as visibility and whether tags are mandatory for certain categories can also be configured here.
  1. Click on the Save button.

Step 2: Restrict Use of Tags in the Group to Certain Users

Below is an example where the cicd-standard tag is visible to all, but restricted to admin-bots etc

image
image627×585 22.7 KB

You might have also missed this topic which also shows the feature.

4

There is one caveat.

If locale is another than EN automatic groups, as trustlevels etc, will use translated names. And those can’t be use. So if a tag group is allowed for TL3 then must create manually another group for TL3 (and higher).

This is longtime bug or design issue. Perhaps it will be fixed sometime.

5

Hmm. I don’t think I’ve heard of that limitation. Have you got a bug topic you can link to?

6

Out there is at least two topics about that — one german, one is mine. I can’t remember where I published mine, can be at support too. It never raised any reactions, though. That’s why my bet goes on design issue :wink:

7

From a quick test, everything appears to be working as expected?

This is the dropdown to select them:

trust level groups shown in tag group options
trust level groups shown in tag group options1179×1830 149 KB

8

https://meta.discourse.org/t/tag-group-tag-is-visible-only-setting-doesn-t-do-anything/295916/9?u=moin

9

Yes, it is there :smirking_face:

Now you can choose one, save, go away, return and reopen that. That trustlevel has disappeared and neved did anything.

11

I’ve continued the Contribute > Bug conversation over in Non-english automatic groups don't stick when applied to Tag Group visibility/usability restrictions - #17 by JammyDodger :+1: