Topic Management

Space moderators have a full toolkit for organizing, curating, and controlling discussions. Every action in this guide requires moderator permission on the space where the topic lives - or site-wide admin access.

What You Will Learn

• How to move a topic to a different space
• How to merge duplicate topics
• How to split a reply into a new topic
• How to pin and unpin topics
• How to close and reopen topics
• How to delete topics

Who Can Use These Tools

All moderation actions described here require one of the following:

• Space Moderator role in the space where the topic lives
• Space Admin role in that space
• WordPress Administrator (can moderate any space)

Regular members do not see moderation options in the menus, even if they are the topic author. Topic authors can edit and delete their own posts, but not pin, close, move, merge, or split them.

Moving a Topic to a Different Space

Use this when a topic was posted in the wrong space - for example, a bug report in a General Discussion space that belongs in a Support space.

1. Open the topic.
2. Click the … menu at the top right of the topic.
3. Select Move.
4. A modal appears with a searchable space picker. Type to filter spaces by name.
5. Select the destination space.
6. Click Move.

The topic disappears from the original space immediately and appears at the top of the destination space’s listing. Its URL changes to reflect the new space slug. The old URL redirects to the new one automatically.

All replies, votes, bookmarks, and subscriptions move with the topic. Nothing is lost.

Tip: If you move a Q&A topic from a Q&A space into a Forum space, the accepted answer marking is preserved in the database, but the “Accepted” badge may not render in the Forum space depending on your display settings.

Merging Duplicate Topics

Use this when two members post the same question or idea in the same space. Merging moves everything from the duplicate into the target topic and puts the duplicate in the trash.

1. Open the topic you want to remove (the duplicate).
2. Click the … menu and select Merge.
3. A modal appears with a search field. Search for the target topic by title.
4. Select the target topic.
5. Click Merge.

What moves to the target topic:

• The duplicate’s opening post becomes a reply by its original author, dated when it was written and headed Merged from “title”, so nothing anyone wrote is lost. Its attachments come with it.
• All replies, in chronological order with the rest of the thread.
• Votes. The target’s score includes the duplicate’s votes. A member who voted on both keeps only their vote on the target.
• Followers and bookmarks. Members who followed or bookmarked the duplicate now follow or have bookmarked the target.

The duplicate itself goes to the trash rather than being deleted. A private topic cannot be merged: make it public first. If the duplicate’s opening post was still awaiting approval, it arrives in the target awaiting approval too.

Warning: Everything above stays on the target topic even if you restore the duplicate from the trash, so check the target before confirming.

Splitting a Reply Into a New Topic

Use this when a reply inside a topic starts a new conversation that deserves its own thread.

1. Find the reply you want to split.
2. Click the … menu on that reply.
3. Select Split to Topic. (The word “Topic” follows the name you have given topics in your community labels.)
4. A modal appears asking for the new topic title.
5. Enter the title and click Split.

Jetonomy creates a new topic in the same space with your chosen title. The selected reply becomes the first post content of the new topic. All sub-replies (direct children of that reply) move with it.

The original reply is removed from the source topic. A moderator note appears in the source topic: “A reply was split into a new topic: [title with link].”

Pinning and Unpinning Topics

Pinned topics appear at the top of the space listing, above all other topics, regardless of which sort tab is selected (Latest, Popular, or Unanswered). Use pinning for space rules, important reference threads, or a “start here” topic. Pinning here affects only this space - to feature a post across the whole community, see Community Announcements (Pro, admins only).

1. Open the topic.
2. Click the … menu and select Pin to space.

The topic moves to the top of the listing immediately and shows a green Pinned badge - on both the listing row and the topic’s own header - so members can see at a glance that it is pinned.

To unpin, open the same menu and select Unpin from space.

Each space allows up to 3 pinned topics by default. Once the limit is reached, pinning another topic returns “You can pin up to 3 topics in a space. Unpin one first.” The cap keeps the top of the space scarce and meaningful; developers can change it with the jetonomy_max_space_pins filter.

Closing Topics

Closing a topic prevents new replies while keeping all existing content visible and readable. Use this when a question has been answered, a discussion has run its course, or a thread is becoming unproductive.

1. Open the topic.
2. Click the … menu and select Close Topic.

Closed topics show a banner: “This topic is closed. No new replies can be added.”

The reply composer is hidden for regular members. Moderators and admins can still reply to closed topics.

To reopen a topic, click the … menu and select Reopen Topic.

Deleting Topics

Deleting a topic moves it to trash. It disappears from the space listing and is no longer accessible to members. The space’s post count decrements.

1. Open the topic.
2. Click the … menu and select Delete.
3. Confirm the deletion in the prompt.

Only a moderator can bring a trashed topic back or remove it for good. Authors can trash their own topics but cannot restore or permanently delete them.

• Space moderators and admins open the Trash tab of the moderation queue (/community/s/{slug}/mod/?view=trash, or /community/mod/?view=trash for every space they moderate). Each trashed topic or reply has Restore and Delete permanently. Opening a trashed topic directly shows the same two buttons in its notice.
• Site admins use Jetonomy → Content in the WordPress admin. The All filter leaves trashed topics out; pick Trash to see them, then use the Restore or Delete Permanently row actions, or the matching bulk actions. Trashed replies are on each topic’s replies screen under the same Trash filter.

Restoring publishes the topic again and puts it back in the space’s post count.

Permanent deletion removes the topic, all of its replies, and everything attached to them - votes, flags, bookmarks, tags, subscriptions, read markers, notifications and attachment links. Author reply counts and tag counts are corrected. It cannot be undone.

Note: Deleting a topic does not change the author’s reputation. Only marking content as Spam applies the reputation penalty (a default of 20 points), configurable under Settings → Permissions → Reputation Points.

What’s Next?

Return to the Spaces & Categories section to learn about managing space membership and access rules.

Membership & Join Policies →