Private Topic FAQ

What are Private Topics?

Private Topics are discussion spaces only visible to specific community groups. If you're not a member of the group or if your access has been explicitly revoked, the topic (and its contents) will be completely hidden.

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Who can access a Private Topic?

• Approved Members: Only members who are added to the group gating the private topic can access it.

• Admins/Mods: Automatically have access by default.

• Rejected or Non-Members: Cannot view, search, or interact with threads in the topic.

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What can approved members do in a Private Topic?

Participate

• View threads

• Create new threads

• Create new comments

• Upvote threads and comments

Search & View

• Search for private content

• See private topic threads & comments on their own profile

• Be mentioned in private threads

• See private topic threads & comments in other members’ profiles

• See private topic threads in general forum views

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What happens if a non-member tries to interact with a Private Topic?

They’ll:

• See topics grayed out in the topic selector

• Be blocked from creating or viewing threads

• Not see private content in search results or profiles

• Receive error messages with clear feedback when attempting to view private topic

Non-members also will not be able to see private topic content in global, general forum views, and in the profiles of private topic members.

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Will private content appear in search or profiles?

Only if you're a member of the group gating that topic.

• Private threads show up in search and profiles only for approved members.

• Non-members won’t see any trace of private discussions.

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What happens to existing threads if a topic becomes private later?

Threads posted before the topic was made private will:

• Remain visible in the member’s profile

• Non-members will not be able to view or interact with the full thread

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How can I wwitch a topic from private to public?

As a community admin, click edit on the group that is gating the private topic and then remove the topic from the gated topic section.

Considerations:

• Even though a success message will appear after saving, a private topic cannot be made public again via the topics page

• Once a private topic becomes public, all of the existing content will become publicly viewable as well

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Pro Tip for Admins

Private topics are managed through the Topics Page. When making a topic private:

• You'll be prompted to select a group to gate the topic with

• You cannot assign a topic to multiple groups