Not sure if this is by design but it seems illogical to me. If a user is watching a certain tag or category they are notified when staff create an unlisted topic in that category.* This defeats the point of having an ‘unlisted’ topic. I understand that one can access unlisted topics with a link but…

Users notified of unlisted topic creation

supermathie (Michael Brown) July 18, 2023, 1:46am 8

Unlisted topics were never intended to be secure.

They’re intended to be “lightweight hidden”.

5 Likes

Newly-created "unlisted" Topics send "new topic" Notifications

Topic		Replies	Views
Newly-created "unlisted" Topics send "new topic" Notifications Bug unlisting	14	1537	August 7, 2025
Discourse doesn't send notifications after an unlisted topic is listed Support notifications , unlisting	3	301	October 7, 2023
Unlisted topic is visible in notification popup if a category is watched? Support unlisting	10	2167	May 30, 2017
Unlisted topics notify users if their posts are linked Bug pr-welcome , unlisting	11	2029	November 26, 2018
Unlisted option on creation of a new topic Feature unlisting	5	3782	March 30, 2016