# Post Rate Limit Trigger for a topic that's heating up
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** completed
**Created:** [September 28, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294 "2018-09-28T17:19:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/74 "2020-11-14T20:53:26Z")
My feedback so far…
When it is enabled on a topic and a user replies the user will have to wait to post again. However, this may be confusing because the reply button is still there even after a pop-up said they have to wait. My idea is that the reply button disappears until they can post or is greyed out.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/75 "2020-11-14T22:37:21Z")
There are two competing schools of thought in usability for scenarios like this:
- if you can’t do it, remove it.
- if you can’t do it, explain why when the user clicks/taps on the button.
I tend to favor the latter. The “just in time” education opportunities are excellent, plus the UI stays consistent – you are likely to get support emails asking why the reply button disappeared, especially since slow mode is kinda rare..
I would also avoid putting an “entertaining” countdown timer on the button, since that might result in pavlovian “let me hang around and post the exact moment I am allowed to” behavior, which I view as negative incentives.
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/76 "2020-11-17T17:58:49Z")
It’s me again. 👋
Can something like the Auto-close for a category in site settings be implemented for slow mode where you could add a value in hours, minutes & seconds?
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### Author:  [@Heather\_Dudley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heather_Dudley)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/77 "2020-11-18T17:33:45Z")
OH, that would be great. I used it on election night to set slow mode while I was sleeping. WOuld’ve been nice to have it auto-end.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/78 "2020-12-03T20:49:04Z")
> [@Roman](#):
>
> Users can edit their posts during the grace period determined by the `editing_grace_period` site setting. Keep in mind that the edit could still fail if the diff is too big. Admins can tweak this via the `editing_grace_period_max_diff` and `editing_grace_period_max_diff_high_trust` settings.
Shouldn’t this only apply to the last post in the topic?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/79 "2020-12-07T04:38:06Z")
No, because users will decide that if they cannot post, but only edit, they should therefore _always_ edit… they will proceed to go back and edit in a bunch of back of forth into their existing posts. I am absolutely 110% sure they would do this.
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### Author:  [@FroggyC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/FroggyC)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/80 "2020-12-12T16:53:38Z")
Hello, I just want to thank everyone for working on this feature. It has completely solved our problem, and the fact that it’s enforced by software and not by moderators really makes it appear less frustrating to users and encourages participation. We experienced as such, when switching from moderator-enforced slow mode topics to the slow mode feature that was released.
My stress and anxiety level from managing my community has really gone down since you released this, and I can’t thank you enough. Sometimes I just enable it arbitrarily on topics I know I don’t have time to moderate at the moment.
I usually use it preventively on topics that I already know are going to flare up, or that are maybe very complicated and I would like people to think before they post. I usually use it like this:
- 15 mins/1h: Usually used as pre-emptive slow mode due to the particular thread topic.
- 4h: the normal slow mode I use when a topic is becoming difficult.
- 1d: I use this slow mode setting when users are being particularly overzealous or non-collaborative.
- 1w: I’ve never used this.
We use our forum as a slow discussions forum, as I’m quite clear it’s not meant for chatting or to use as a social network, and we have a Discord for text and voice chatting anyways. YMMV if your community is more fast-paced.
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### Author:  [@TallTrees](https://meta.discourse.org/u/TallTrees)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2021, 12:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/82 "2021-01-13T12:25:33Z")
Slow mode is a great feature, and we love it!
But on our site the moderators also frequently post on topics, and can sometimes forget that slow mode is enabled…
Would it be possible to have a prompt if using mod powers to post faster than slow mode would normally allow, a bit like using mod powers to post on a closed topic? I think that would treat everyone a bit more equally, but still allow mods to get on with things if really needed.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/83 "2021-01-19T21:24:04Z")
Sure @eviltrout @riking this is related to the “warn staff / TL4 when they’re about to post to a closed topic” feature so it can be bundled in as well.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/84 "2021-04-13T00:29:16Z")
18 posts were split to a new topic: [Issues when using slow mode on a topic forever](https://meta.discourse.org/t/issues-when-using-slow-mode-on-a-topic-forever/186607)
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2025, 5:55am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/85 "2025-08-14T05:55:42Z")
Given we have slow mode now shipped in the product, I am going to mark this as completed.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2025, 5:55am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-rate-limit-trigger-for-a-topic-thats-heating-up/98294/86 "2025-08-14T05:55:46Z")
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