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Trust Level 4 closed-topic restrictions

The plugin bundles two site settings that clamp down trust level 4 (TL4) users on closed topics. These are independent of the mini-mod features and apply site-wide to any TL4 user, regardless of whether they're in a category moderation group.

Why this is in this plugin

Discourse core treats TL4 users as "trusted" in two ways that overlap with what the mini-mod side of this plugin already overrides:

  1. Guardian::TopicGuardian#can_create_post_on_topic? lets TL4 users reply on closed topics anywhere on the site (via core's "trusted" branch).
  2. Guardian::TopicGuardian#can_perform_action_available_to_group_moderators? — aliased to can_close_topic?, can_open_topic?, can_archive_topic?, can_pin_unpin_topic?, can_split_merge_topic?, can_edit_staff_notes? — returns true for any TL4 user on any topic they can see, allowing all of those actions site-wide.

Because the plugin already overrides those Guardian methods to gate mini-mods, adding TL4 gates to the same overrides was a small extension that solved a related forum-management problem (strict closed-topic semantics) without needing a second plugin.

The two settings live in their own Trust Level 4 section in the admin site settings UI, separate from the mini-mod settings.

Settings

tl4_can_post_in_closed_topics

  • Default: false
  • Client: no

When false, blocks any non-staff TL4 user from replying on a closed topic anywhere on the site. When true, falls through to core's normal "trusted" handling.

Requires: mini_mod_enabled (the plugin's master switch)

tl4_can_reopen_topics

  • Default: false
  • Client: no

When false, blocks any non-staff TL4 user from reopening a closed topic anywhere on the site. Both reopen paths are covered:

  • The manual UI toggle, via can_close_topic? — Discourse routes both close and reopen through this method and infers the direction from topic.closed?.
  • The topic-timer reopen path, via can_open_topic? — used by Jobs::OpenTopic when a scheduled timer fires.

When true, falls through to core.

Requires: mini_mod_enabled

What is and isn't restricted

The restrictions are intentionally narrow:

  • Only closed topics are affected. Open topics are untouched — TL4 users can still close them, archive them, pin them, and so on.
  • Only the two Guardian methods listed above are touched. Every other TL4 grant (wiki posts via can_wiki?, can_rebake?, can_see_unlisted_topics?, can_skip_bump?, can_update_bumped_at?, etc.) is left exactly as core ships it.
  • Site staff are unaffected. Admins and moderators retain their independent capabilities — the gates short-circuit on is_staff? before checking trust level.
  • The button hides too. When the reopen gate is active, TopicViewDetailsSerializer#include_can_close_topic? returns false on closed topics for non-staff TL4 users, so the close/reopen button disappears from the topic admin menu instead of staying visible and surfacing a 403 on click.

Interaction with the mini-mod settings

A user who is both a TL4 user and a mini-mod for a category is gated by both the mini_mod_* setting and the tl4_* setting for that action. Both must be enabled for the user to act. This is verified at every layer:

Layer Spec
Guardian unit spec/lib/guardian_extensions_spec.rb — "TL4 user who is also a mini-mod"
HTTP request spec/requests/closed_topic_reply_spec.rb, spec/requests/topic_status_toggle_spec.rb
Topic-view serializer spec/lib/topic_view_details_serializer_extension_spec.rb — "TL4 user who is also a mini-mod"
Topic-timer job spec/jobs/open_topic_job_spec.rb — "TL4 user who is also a mini-mod"

How it works technically

The plugin's existing Guardian overrides each grew an extra TL4 branch:

Method TL4 branch fires when
can_create_post_on_topic? tl4_can_post_in_closed_topics is false, topic is closed, viewer is non-staff TL4
can_close_topic? tl4_can_reopen_topics is false, topic is closed, viewer is non-staff TL4
can_open_topic? tl4_can_reopen_topics is false, viewer is non-staff TL4

All three TL4 branches sit above the mini-mod branches in each method, so a TL4-mini-mod hybrid hits the TL4 gate first.

The serializer extension TopicViewDetailsSerializerExtension#include_can_close_topic? mirrors the can_close_topic? Guardian override so the close/reopen button is hidden client-side as well — without it, the button stayed visible for TL4 users on closed topics and clicking it surfaced a 403 from ensure_can_close_topic!.