# Private forum, but some sections are public?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105
**Category:** Community Building
**Created:** [1월 9, 2019, 7:28오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105 "2019-01-09T19:28:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kefir](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kefir)
#### Post date: [1월 9, 2019, 7:28오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/1 "2019-01-09T19:28:01Z")
Hello,
I was wondering if I could assign a default category when creating a new topic. I checked in the config search bar but I was uncertain that any option did that.
The reason I want to do see if this is possible is because I am thinking of having a public forum where the default category is private to limit access to registered users but also allowing some information public.
This forum is private because it is for activist organization but we want to share some commons without having to maintain another platform in parallel.
Thanks in advance
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [1월 9, 2019, 7:38오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/2 "2019-01-09T19:38:30Z")
There isn’t a setting to do this, no.
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### Author:  [@kefir](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kefir)
#### Post date: [1월 9, 2019, 7:50오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/3 "2019-01-09T19:50:01Z")
@jomaxro
but is there anything near to doing this at an admin GUI or sysadmin file config level?
Or perhaps another workaround putting by default topics to something that isnt public for non registered users?
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [1월 9, 2019, 7:52오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/4 "2019-01-09T19:52:03Z")
At the moment you’d need to develop a plugin for this. There are no settings I’m aware of that you can change in core discourse to set a default category.
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### Author:  [@kefir](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kefir)
#### Post date: [1월 9, 2019, 8:21오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/5 "2019-01-09T20:21:27Z")
Ok. I am thinking for a workaround:
- I can force users to assign a category
- I can set all categories but ‘public’ as limited to trust level registered user
Apart from staff, can a trust level 1 or beyond user create categories?
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [1월 9, 2019, 8:23오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/6 "2019-01-09T20:23:29Z")
> [@kefir](#):
>
> Apart from staff, can a trust level 1 or beyond user create categories?
Nope, non-staff are never able to create categories. By default only admins can create categories. To allow moderators to create categories, enable the `moderators create categories` site setting.
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### Author:  [@kefir](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kefir)
#### Post date: [1월 10, 2019, 11:14오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/7 "2019-01-10T11:14:56Z")
Ok. So that would be a way of kind of keeping most things private in a public forum.
- Force topics to have a category
- All categories but ‘public’ are for registered users
- Staff protocol for publishing content
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [12월 17, 2021, 8:28오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/8 "2021-12-17T20:28:26Z")
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### Author:  [@kgreed](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kgreed)
#### Post date: [11월 25, 2024, 11:54오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/9 "2024-11-25T23:54:28Z")
이 부분에 대해 어떤 진전이 있었나요?
저는 티켓 처리에 Discourse를 사용하지만, 공개된 블로그 카테고리도 함께 운영하고 있습니다. 잘못된 카테고리를 선택할까 봐 늘 걱정됩니다!
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### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [11월 26, 2024, 6:59오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/10 "2024-11-26T06:59:32Z")
관리자로서 실수로 잘못된 카테고리에 내용을 올릴까 봐 걱정되시나요?
저에게 Discourse의 매력이란, 실수를 해도 다시 쉽게 원래 자리로 되돌릴 수 있다는 점입니다. 물론 일부 이메일 알림을 놓칠 수는 있겠지만요.
저는 공개 카테고리를 가진 비공개 포럼을 몇 개 운영합니다. 보통 큰 문제는 되지 않습니다. 내용을 더 엄격하게 관리해야 한다면 공개 카테고리에 모더레이션을 추가할 수 있지만, 대개 그만한 가치가 있는 번거로움은 아닙니다.
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### Author:  [@kgreed](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kgreed)
#### Post date: [11월 26, 2024, 9:09오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/11 "2024-11-26T09:09:50Z")
팀원으로서, 버그 카테고리에 넣을 의도였는데 실수로 블로그 카테고리에 주제를 추가하는 일이 일어나지 않기를 바랍니다.
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [11월 26, 2024, 10:07오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/12 "2024-11-26T10:07:05Z")
이들을 구분하는 좋은 방법 중 하나는 색상을 기준으로 식별하는 것입니다. 이렇게 하면 #contribute:bug가 노란색(예: Meta의 여기)이라는 것을 알기 때문에, 빨간색/보라색인 곳(예: Meta의 여기 #announcements:blog)에는 이를 넣지 않게 됩니다.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [11월 26, 2024, 10:21오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/13 "2024-11-26T10:21:18Z")
이 설정이 도움이 될 수 있습니다
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### Author:  [@kgreed](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kgreed)
#### Post date: [11월 26, 2024, 8:49오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-forum-but-some-sections-are-public/106105/14 "2024-11-26T20:49:57Z")
감사합니다.
