how to have both public & private comments?

[Robert Lauriston]

I want external users (customers) to be able to post and see each other's comments.

I also want internal users (employees) to be able to post comments that only internal users can see, to discuss possible changes and so on.

How can I do both?

[Jeremy Largman · Accepted solution]

Other than building a plugin, this is a feature request - see CONF-5639. You can comment in that issue and vote for it, or add your specific use-case.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

It is possible to select who can view the comments when it is posted. When internal customers post it, they should make sure the visibility is selected appropriately!

Edit: This is for JIRA, not Confluence.

[Robert Lauriston]

I see view restrictions for pages, but not for comments.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Checkout the comment visibility section here: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Commenting+on+an+Issue#CommentingonanIssue-addcomment

Also check how the administrator has configured it.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Oops, I am talking about JIRA! My bad!

[David at David Simpson Apps]

This seems like a perfectly reasonable use of a custom plugin. I've developed similar functionality in the past. You'd likely want to configure an LDAP group as the internal users and set the comment visibility based on that group.