# Redirect / convert post from Pending Approval to Direct Message?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** approval
**Created:** [11월 19, 2015, 5:55오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781 "2015-11-19T05:55:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2015, 5:55오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/1 "2015-11-19T05:55:32Z")
When dealing with messages to be approved, it’d be very helpful to redirect the post to direct message.
This way, we could hash out what the user was really asking for, etc.
Is this something we could see added to the Discourse feature list?
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2015, 9:43오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/2 "2015-11-19T09:43:15Z")
What do you mean by “redirect the post to direct message”? Wouldn’t you be achieving the same thing by PMing the user directly from that topic?
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2015, 2:36오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/3 "2015-11-19T14:36:58Z")
When there’s a post pending approval (new topic or a reply) sometimes I just want to reply to the author & have a conversation
a button to “convert to PM” would be super fantastic
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [11월 19, 2015, 6:09오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/4 "2015-11-19T18:09:29Z")
What we’ve been doing, though not entirely ideal, is
Unlist the topic
Make a “please clarify and we’ll relist” type of post
When / if the OP gets back, the “extra” posts are deleted and the topic relisted
True, the topic can still be accessed by the topics URL, but it’s close to being “private”
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [12월 5, 2015, 5:59오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/5 "2015-12-05T05:59:40Z")
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> Wouldn’t you be achieving the same thing by PMing the user directly from that topic?
I could, there’d be no direct correlation/link back to the approved post.
But yes, in absence of being able to convert the post to a DM, I should just copy & paste the subject & body into a DM.
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [1월 5, 2016, 3:42오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/6 "2016-01-05T03:42:00Z")
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> Wouldn’t you be achieving the same thing by PMing the user directly from that topic?
more often than not (and more often lately, hence my revisit to this topic) I’m not going to approve the post.
The typical state of affairs is that the post is a direct request for support, posted to a community of hundreds, and they aren’t the ones to help the user.
By converting the pending message to a PM, we can both remove the pending message and reply to the author in one fell swoop.
At it stands, we’re having to copy & paste it all into a new ticket for our zendesk, when answering it in the forum would have taken far less steps.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [1월 5, 2016, 4:19오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/7 "2016-01-05T04:19:52Z")
Probably fine to add a “reply as personal message” button which converts the pending post into a new PM and then launches the staff member into a reply. But who is the personal message to? A group, which would be hella noisy, or to the individual who punched the button? I think you need to spec out more how this would actually work in practice, step by step.
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [1월 5, 2016, 4:42오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/8 "2016-01-05T04:42:48Z")
Hm, didn’t think who the PM would be “to” was the question.. and given the following workflow, that answer could be edited before sending:
- User posts to a discourse, and due to its settings, the message is held for approval.
- Admin/moderator reviews the list of messages pending review, decides not to allow this post
- Admin/mod chooses “convert to PM”
- the message is converted into a PM from that admin to the user who posted it
- the subject is `re:` the [the initial subject line]
- the body is the posted message, wrapped in a markdown quotes bracket \>
- the admin/mod has the opportunity to edit the To, Subject, and Body as needed.
- If the admin/mod hits send, it becomes a PM for real, and the post is removed from the queue.
- If the admin/mod his cancel, the post goes back to the queue.
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### Author:  [@gingerman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gingerman)
#### Post date: [6월 5, 2016, 6:33오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/9 "2016-06-05T18:33:56Z")
This would be helpful in our workflow as well. Is this possible now ?
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [6월 6, 2016, 10:05오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/10 "2016-06-06T22:05:01Z")
No, not yet.
Also related:
> [@Change a new Pending Post to a comment on an existing topic?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-a-new-pending-post-to-a-comment-on-an-existing-topic/41153/):
>
> Continuing the discussion from [Redirect / convert post from Pending Approval to Direct Message?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781): Sometimes the “new” topic really belongs as a comment on an existing thread. Right now all I can do is login as them, and re-post their comment… it would be nice to move the pending message to an existing topic.
One day, someone smarter than me will turn their attention to the [Approval](https://meta.discourse.org/tags/approval) feature set, and I’ll save a bunch of time!
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### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [12월 4, 2025, 11:37오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/redirect-convert-post-from-pending-approval-to-direct-message/35781/11 "2025-12-04T11:37:07Z")