# Private users in Discourse **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature\ **Created:** [September 27, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-users-in-discourse/70878 "2017-09-27T15:17:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![Heliosurge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/heliosurge/32/571810_2.png) [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 3:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-users-in-discourse/70878/7 "2024-04-29T15:55:06Z")
> [@khenmu](#): > > > [@tvavrda](#): > > > > The ONLY thing that looks bad is that any user can actually mention any other customer or worse, send them private messages (private messages can be disabled though so that is probably fine). > > Is this a regular occurrence? It sounds like a hypothetical concern to me - I’m not sure why your customer’s users would be mentioning or messaging random strangers The @mention in a topic will populate a list as will starting to type letters. With this angle one simple solution is to see about modifying Discobot tutorial to omit the mention part of the tutorial or finance a component or plugin Op however can disable mentions by the looks of it here. ![Screenshot_20240429-124910](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/1/c/9/1c90bbd6318e34e658feb3532d455be923f12a45.jpeg) If badges are not really needed. Disable them and provide forum interface help topics > [@khenmu](#): > > If you want multiple forums (fora?) with distinct communities, then you can spin up additional installs of Discourse to fit your situation. I genuinely think this would be your best option in the long-term Discourse Meta is quite capable of achieving that with a proper setup to that end. See communities using discourse that do use it as a customer support platform --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/private-users-in-discourse/70878)._