# User selectable "make public" topic option?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 20, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977 "2020-03-20T19:35:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TGP](https://meta.discourse.org/u/TGP)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/1 "2020-03-20T19:35:26Z")
Probably a pipe dream, but Discourse never ceases to surprise me, so I figured why not…
_**Is there a way to make a category publicly visible (read-only), but ONLY display those topics which the poster toggled a “make public”-type setting (else the default topic is only visible to members)?**_
Here’s the situation. We’ve been up and running for about four months. Everything is members-only.
It’s been suggested—internally and externally—that we make something publicly visible, _because who in their right mind is building a business around a paid discussion forum in 2020, right?_ We’re cool with this, and have a category in mind.
_Build Threads_ is one of our most active categories, where members are documenting their progress with ongoing projects. Most of these are vehicles, but it’s also a place where members might share their weight loss or business startup efforts.
Everyone loves the idea of making this category publicly visible (read-only), but everyone’s also aware that there are some build threads they’d like to remain within the privacy of our community.
I love how we could simply add a _Public_ Build Threads category and let trust levels grant members the ability to move things to that space when/if ready. If there’s a chance we could grant users the ability to post members-only topics in an otherwise publicly-visible category, that might be better than having two categories for the same thing. _Maybe it could be, like, "Allow tl0 access?_
Thanks in advance. I know this is kinda crazy.
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/2 "2020-03-20T19:40:29Z")
> [@TGP](#):
>
> Is there a way to make a category publicly visible (read-only)
Depends who you want to let post in it. You can make two groups for one category so **group A** can **for example** `create/reply/see` and **Group B** can only `see`?
You can achieve this by changing category settings like so:
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### Author:  [@TGP](https://meta.discourse.org/u/TGP)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/3 "2020-03-20T19:55:27Z")
Right. That was the plan, but the need for _some_ topics in the category to remain private is the issue.
Assume we make our Build Threads category read-only to visitors. Can we then somehow hide all _topics_ within that category to non-members unless the poster specifically authorizes it?
Given a publicly-visible category, is there anyway make said public visibility optional and the topic creator’s choice? Should we just have two categories—one public, one private? Or is there another option I haven’t considered?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/4 "2020-03-20T19:58:50Z")
No, there are no per-topic permissions that would enable individual topics in a category to be visible to different groups. The only thing which loosely falls into this category is PMs, and they are never public.
Access is set at a category level for good reason. Platforms which allow super granular permissions get _super_ confusing _very_ quickly. I still have nightmares about those permissions panes in vBulletin.
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/5 "2020-03-20T21:46:53Z")
PMs to groups - potentially with tagging for a little bit of organization - is probably the way to go here.
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### Author:  [@TGP](https://meta.discourse.org/u/TGP)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/6 "2020-03-21T18:52:58Z")
This is what I thought, but figured I’d check just in case. Discourse consistently surprises this old forum jockey. 🙂
We’ll probably implement a special, public-facing category for those who want to be seen. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/7 "2020-03-26T21:43:12Z")
> [@TGP](#):
>
> Is there a way to make a category publicly visible (read-only), but ONLY display those topics which the poster toggled a “make public”-type setting (else the default topic is only visible to members)?
Yes. Make _Build Threads_ read-only and public as you wish. Create a subcategory called “members only”. If they want it private they post in the members only category. If they want it to become public, they re-categorize it into the public category.
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### Author:  [@TGP](https://meta.discourse.org/u/TGP)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/8 "2020-03-26T22:03:20Z")
_Say, I like this idea._ There’s still the issue of members needing to remember to select the right category when posting, but that feels like it could be relatively minor. We’re going to experiment with this.
Thanks, Jay!
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/9 "2020-03-26T22:19:18Z")
So maybe add public/private to the category names so it’ll be obvious. And, really, there’s no reason to use sub-cats, so you could just leave the private one as it is and then create a new category called “public build threads” and people can move stuff there as they see fit.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-selectable-make-public-topic-option/144977/10 "2020-04-25T22:19:19Z")
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