# Notes on effects of changing automatic (TL, etc.) group titles via site texts
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353
**Category:** UX
**Tags:** personal-messages
**Created:** [November 21, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353 "2025-11-21T18:26:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353/1 "2025-11-21T18:26:06Z")
I don’t know if anyone but @haydenjames might be interested in this, but I got curious about a secondary request in an otherwise solved topic about group PM inboxes:
> [@Question about Group Message Inboxes (e.g. trust\_level\_2)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/question-about-group-message-inboxes-e-g-trust-level-2/360575/4):
>
> Is there any way to rename the title of those Trust level groups? e.g. `Trust Level 2` instead of `trust_level_2` ?
…referring to:
Here’s what I can make out…
Since the equivalent field titles for user vs. group “names” overlap confusingly, I categorize them here as **@ handle** and **proper name**. Handles don’t allow spaces; proper names do.
| | @ handle | proper name |
| --- | --- | --- |
| users | 🕵 `Username` field (Agent\_007) | 🏷 `Name` field (James Bond) |
| admin created groups | 🏷 `Name` field (poke\_pros) | 👥 `Full Name` field (Pokemon Pros) |
| automatic groups | 🤖 derived from site text name (trust\_level\_2) | 📝 site text name (trust\_level\_2) |
Automatic groups, e.g. moderators, trust levels, etc. don’t have editable ‘handle’ and ‘proper name’ fields.
But automatic groups have _site text_ names that can be edited:
This changes the appearance of the group heading on the Groups pages.
Maybe that’s something you’d like to do…
…but it doesn’t affect the Inbox, which displays the **handle** for all groups, automatic or otherwise:
~~I don’t know how much work it would be to pull in the **proper name** fields for display here instead of the **handle** , but if it’s minor, it would be a nice bit of polish.~~
EDIT: Realizing that while it might look nice to use the **proper name** in the inbox, it makes sense that it shows the **handle** that’s used for @-mentions.
If you want to rename an automatic group _and_ give it a matching new **handle** , the new group title in site texts must be valid for that purpose, i.e. have no spaces in it.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353/2 "2025-11-21T18:39:02Z")
I think changing the (eg) `groups.default_names.trust_level_4` site text does end up updating it in other areas too. I believe it’s naturally part of a daily background job, but if you have access to your `/sidekiq/scheduler` page you can trigger the `jobs::EnsureDbConsistency ` job manually from there to speed it up.
* * *
Ahh, but yes, spaces will be an issue as mentions/names can’t handle those. 😢
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 7:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353/3 "2025-11-21T19:49:00Z")
Well this is interesting..! JammyDodger’s reply led me to more experiments.
Renaming the automatic groups via the site text setting led to some confusion when _spaces_ were involved, because spaces prevent them being used as **handles**. If the current derived **handle** isn’t overridden by the site text setting because of spaces, it stays as it was. I discovered this when I briefly got a _no-spaces_ group title stuck as the handle.
Awareness of the impact of spaces and use of the Sidekiq job `EnsureDbConsistency` cleared things up.
I’ll amend my suggestion in the original post re. displaying **proper names** in the inbox, as that wouldn’t jive with the use of @-mentions, which require the **handle**.
> **Detailed testing steps**
>
> 1. Starting with my situation above, I confirmed that the Sideqik job had run, and ran it again anyway. Indeed it did not pick up the name changes for the inbox – because of the spaces, as you explained.
>
> 2. Changed the site text for TL2 from “Trust Level 2” to “Sophomores” and ran the Sideqik job:
>
> The name change now propagated, as both the group title and the inbox **handle** – because no spaces:
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> 1. Changed the site text name back to “Trust Level 2” and ran the Sidekiq job. The **handle** assigned in the previous operation is now stuck there – apparently because the spaces in that site text title don’t make for a valid **handle** :
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> 1. Reverted the site text to default “trust\_level\_2” and did not run the Sidekiq job. This updated the title but not the **handle** :
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> 1. Ran the Sidekiq job, which cleared the edited handle, resetting it to the default in the inbox:
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> 
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353/4 "2025-11-21T20:09:07Z")
> [@ToddZ](#):
>
> Well this is interesting..! JammyDodger’s intitial reply—now deleted—led me to more experiments.
Sorry about that. 😬 I sometimes realise that I’ve jumped in too early and get ‘poster’s remorse’. 🙂 I’ll bring it back for posterity. 👍
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notes-on-effects-of-changing-automatic-tl-etc-group-titles-via-site-texts/389353/5 "2025-11-21T20:18:00Z")
The quick input was very helpful! 😁