# Only allow link sharing?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [June 25, 2019, 7:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248 "2019-06-25T07:38:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@agawley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/agawley)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2019, 7:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/1 "2019-06-25T07:38:22Z")
Hi there
I want to create a Discourse backed forum where the original post in a topic can ONLY be a link to a website. Is there a way to do that?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/2 "2019-06-25T12:24:40Z")
Where there is a will there is a way, but there isn’t an obvious technical one. I’d recommend just making that a community norm. You can have a per category topic template that could tell users to include only a URL.
A URL is hardly civilized discussion. You’d need a plugin to enforce it.
Edit: boy, was I wrong!
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### Author:  [@agawley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/agawley)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/3 "2019-06-25T17:19:03Z")
I want a forum where each thread represents a link to an article and we have civilised discourse about it (sort of like hacker news). If I’m trying to put a square peg in a round hole then happy to look at another solution. Also happy to look at plugins (or write a plugin!) but also don’t want to try to force something unintended.
As you may have guessed I am a complete discourse newbie.
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### Author:  [@Stranik](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stranik)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/4 "2019-06-25T18:06:51Z")
I’m not quite sure. AMaybe fit?
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/links-category-for-discourse/43532](https://meta.discourse.org/t/links-category-for-discourse/43532)
Perhaps the plugin can be slightly modified.
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### Author:  [@agawley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/agawley)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/5 "2019-06-25T18:32:37Z")
Will give it a try. Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/6 "2019-06-25T23:38:54Z")
> [@agawley](#):
>
> I want to create a Discourse backed forum where the original post in a topic can ONLY be a link to a website. Is there a way to do that?
You can experiment with simple solution.
Add this CSS:
```css
div#reply-control.topic .d-editor {
display: none;
```
It will hide the text-area only in the topic creation composer. Then change the text (Admin \> Customize \> Text Content) in the title to say “paste a link here”.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/7 "2022-12-14T02:27:22Z")
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-allow-link-sharing/121248/8 "2022-12-14T05:11:16Z")