Hi, I just wanted to confirm the default permissions behaviour in Discourse. Can moderators delete user accounts, or is that restricted to admins only? I just wanted to confirm there are no edge cases (for example users with zero posts). We are running Discourse 2026.3.0-latest with only official plugins. Thanks!

Thanks - category moderators ended up being the right solution for my use case. On my forum I set this up as follows: I created a group @mods. I enabled the site setting enable category group moderation. I assigned that group as the moderator group for each category. This gives the moderators the tools they need for category-level moderation, while avoiding some of the global moderator permissions (such as deleting users). For visibility, I also allowed the group to appear on /about by ensuring it is not listed in about page hidden groups, and adding the Mods group As a small presentation tweak, I adjusted the group’s display name and currently have it set to “Our Moderators” so the /about page reads more naturally. The group slug remains @mods. Finally, I added the admins group to the about page hidden groups setting, which helped tidy up the /about page layout. After doing that the page looked much cleaner.

Why not try? :slight_smile: Also see: [image]Deleting a user account :person_raising_hand: Required user level: Administrator or Moderator

Thanks - I tested this on my own forum and confirmed that moderators can delete users. For my use case I would prefer that only admins can delete accounts. Is there a recommended way to prevent moderators from deleting (or anonymising) users (for example a site setting, theme component, or plugin), or is moderation policy normally used for this? Thanks!

Is that the only moderator ability you’d want to limit? Or would it make sense to use Category Moderators? Those permissions stop short of delete user and a few other things.

this table shows everything moderators and other trust levels can do [image] Trust Level Permissions Reference Using Discourse bookmark This reference aims to be a comprehensive list of Discourse features, marked by Trust Level, and including the relevant admin settings which influence them. Trust level names TL0: New (newuser) TL1: Basic TL2: Member TL3: Regular TL4: Inner Circle Trust Level Grid - Defaults TL = Trust Level dependant gear = Can be enabled or adjusted by an admin setting gear TL0 TL1 TL2 TL3 TL4 Category Moderator Moderator [1] Post Replies white_check_mark … also worth noting that all staff admin activity is recorded in the staff action logs at admin/logs/staff_action_logs

Sweet! Thanks for sharing your resolution. I believe that’s largely what was done for us new volunteer mods here.

What can moderators do to users?

Product Support

NateDhaliwal (Nate Dhaliwal) March 11, 2026, 7:29am 2

Why not try?

Also see:

Topic		Replies	Views
Assigning Category Moderator Role Without Admin Access Product Support	1	160	April 15, 2025
Is there a way to not let moderators delete members? Product Support	7	855	December 2, 2022
Option for TL4 to delete posts/topics Product Support	2	929	August 1, 2021
How to Modify Moderator Permissions and Remove Discourse Attribution Product Support	3	401	October 1, 2024
How i can manage roles for moderators and administrators? Product Support	4	1391	June 12, 2022

What can moderators do to users?

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