diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/preferences.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/preferences.js.es6
index 98e0b05f7ce..e2d49339f31 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/preferences.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/preferences.js.es6
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import CanCheckEmails from 'discourse/mixins/can-check-emails';
 import { popupAjaxError } from 'discourse/lib/ajax-error';
 import computed from "ember-addons/ember-computed-decorators";
 import { cook } from 'discourse/lib/text';
+import { NotificationLevels } from 'discourse/lib/notification-levels';
 
 export default Ember.Controller.extend(CanCheckEmails, {
 
@@ -115,6 +116,10 @@ export default Ember.Controller.extend(CanCheckEmails, {
                        { name: I18n.t('user.auto_track_options.after_5_minutes'), value: 300000 },
                        { name: I18n.t('user.auto_track_options.after_10_minutes'), value: 600000 }],
 
+  notificationLevelsForReplying: [{ name: I18n.t('topic.notifications.watching.title'), value: NotificationLevels.WATCHING },
+                                  { name: I18n.t('topic.notifications.tracking.title'), value: NotificationLevels.TRACKING }],
+
+
   considerNewTopicOptions: [{ name: I18n.t('user.new_topic_duration.not_viewed'), value: -1 },
                             { name: I18n.t('user.new_topic_duration.after_1_day'), value: 60 * 24 },
                             { name: I18n.t('user.new_topic_duration.after_2_days'), value: 60 * 48 },
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6
index a8ba8682fae..3644f7f5e96 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ const User = RestModel.extend({
      'digest_after_minutes',
      'new_topic_duration_minutes',
      'auto_track_topics_after_msecs',
+     'notification_level_when_replying',
      'like_notification_frequency',
      'include_tl0_in_digests'
     ].forEach(s => {
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/user/preferences.hbs b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/user/preferences.hbs
index 96c061cfb31..7fc1666d906 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/user/preferences.hbs
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/user/preferences.hbs
@@ -234,6 +234,11 @@
         {{combo-box valueAttribute="value" content=autoTrackDurations value=model.user_option.auto_track_topics_after_msecs}}
       </div>
 
+      <div class="controls controls-dropdown">
+        <label>{{i18n 'user.notification_level_when_replying'}}</label>
+        {{combo-box valueAttribute="value" content=notificationLevelsForReplying value=model.user_option.notification_level_when_replying}}
+      </div>
+
       <div class="controls controls-dropdown">
         <label>{{i18n 'user.like_notification_frequency.title'}}</label>
         {{combo-box valueAttribute="value" content=likeNotificationFrequencies value=model.user_option.like_notification_frequency}}
diff --git a/app/models/notification_level_when_replying_site_setting.rb b/app/models/notification_level_when_replying_site_setting.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..66b07cb5453
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/notification_level_when_replying_site_setting.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+require_dependency 'enum_site_setting'
+require_dependency 'notification_levels'
+
+class NotificationLevelWhenReplyingSiteSetting < EnumSiteSetting
+
+  def self.valid_value?(val)
+    val.to_i.to_s == val.to_s &&
+    values.any? { |v| v[:value] == val.to_i }
+  end
+
+  def self.notification_levels
+    NotificationLevels.topic_levels
+  end
+
+  def self.values
+    @values ||= [
+      { name: 'topic.notifications.watching.title', value: notification_levels[:watching] },
+      { name: 'topic.notifications.tracking.title', value: notification_levels[:tracking] }
+    ]
+  end
+
+  def self.translate_names?
+    true
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/app/models/topic_user.rb b/app/models/topic_user.rb
index c07907e8162..9738083ba7a 100644
--- a/app/models/topic_user.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic_user.rb
@@ -37,24 +37,24 @@ class TopicUser < ActiveRecord::Base
                                          auto_track_tag: 12)
     end
 
-    def auto_track(user_id, topic_id, reason)
+    def auto_notification(user_id, topic_id, reason, notification_level)
       if TopicUser.where(user_id: user_id, topic_id: topic_id, notifications_reason_id: nil).exists?
         change(user_id, topic_id,
-          notification_level: notification_levels[:tracking],
+          notification_level: notification_level,
           notifications_reason_id: reason
         )
 
         MessageBus.publish("/topic/#{topic_id}", {
-          notification_level_change: notification_levels[:tracking],
+          notification_level_change: notification_level,
           notifications_reason_id: reason
         }, user_ids: [user_id])
       end
     end
 
-    def auto_watch(user_id, topic_id)
+    def auto_notification_for_staging(user_id, topic_id, reason)
       topic_user = TopicUser.find_or_initialize_by(user_id: user_id, topic_id: topic_id)
       topic_user.notification_level = notification_levels[:watching]
-      topic_user.notifications_reason_id = notification_reasons[:auto_watch]
+      topic_user.notifications_reason_id = reason
       topic_user.save
     end
 
diff --git a/app/models/user_option.rb b/app/models/user_option.rb
index 7e13a4d8f85..1071026c183 100644
--- a/app/models/user_option.rb
+++ b/app/models/user_option.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class UserOption < ActiveRecord::Base
 
     self.new_topic_duration_minutes = SiteSetting.default_other_new_topic_duration_minutes
     self.auto_track_topics_after_msecs = SiteSetting.default_other_auto_track_topics_after_msecs
+    self.notification_level_when_replying = SiteSetting.default_other_notification_level_when_replying
 
     self.like_notification_frequency = SiteSetting.default_other_like_notification_frequency
 
@@ -129,26 +130,27 @@ end
 #
 # Table name: user_options
 #
-#  user_id                       :integer          not null, primary key
-#  email_always                  :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
-#  mailing_list_mode             :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
-#  email_digests                 :boolean
-#  email_direct                  :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
-#  email_private_messages        :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
-#  external_links_in_new_tab     :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
-#  enable_quoting                :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
-#  dynamic_favicon               :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
-#  disable_jump_reply            :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
-#  automatically_unpin_topics    :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
-#  digest_after_minutes          :integer
-#  auto_track_topics_after_msecs :integer
-#  new_topic_duration_minutes    :integer
-#  last_redirected_to_top_at     :datetime
-#  email_previous_replies        :integer          default(2), not null
-#  email_in_reply_to             :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
-#  like_notification_frequency   :integer          default(1), not null
-#  include_tl0_in_digests        :boolean          default(FALSE)
-#  mailing_list_mode_frequency   :integer          default(0), not null
+#  user_id                          :integer          not null, primary key
+#  email_always                     :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
+#  mailing_list_mode                :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
+#  email_digests                    :boolean
+#  email_direct                     :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
+#  email_private_messages           :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
+#  external_links_in_new_tab        :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
+#  enable_quoting                   :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
+#  dynamic_favicon                  :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
+#  disable_jump_reply               :boolean          default(FALSE), not null
+#  automatically_unpin_topics       :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
+#  digest_after_minutes             :integer
+#  auto_track_topics_after_msecs    :integer
+#  notification_level_when_replying :integer
+#  new_topic_duration_minutes       :integer
+#  last_redirected_to_top_at        :datetime
+#  email_previous_replies           :integer          default(2), not null
+#  email_in_reply_to                :boolean          default(TRUE), not null
+#  like_notification_frequency      :integer          default(1), not null
+#  include_tl0_in_digests           :boolean          default(FALSE)
+#  mailing_list_mode_frequency      :integer          default(0), not null
 #
 # Indexes
 #
diff --git a/app/serializers/user_option_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/user_option_serializer.rb
index 7d7dedfa8ae..33cc3f4cc8a 100644
--- a/app/serializers/user_option_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/user_option_serializer.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ class UserOptionSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
              :digest_after_minutes,
              :automatically_unpin_topics,
              :auto_track_topics_after_msecs,
+             :notification_level_when_replying,
              :new_topic_duration_minutes,
              :email_previous_replies,
              :email_in_reply_to,
@@ -24,6 +25,10 @@ class UserOptionSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
     object.auto_track_topics_after_msecs || SiteSetting.default_other_auto_track_topics_after_msecs
   end
 
+  def notification_level_when_replying
+    object.notification_level_when_replying || SiteSetting.default_other_notification_level_when_replying
+  end
+
   def new_topic_duration_minutes
     object.new_topic_duration_minutes || SiteSetting.default_other_new_topic_duration_minutes
   end
diff --git a/app/services/user_updater.rb b/app/services/user_updater.rb
index ad25b23fa3e..44d217e3bd1 100644
--- a/app/services/user_updater.rb
+++ b/app/services/user_updater.rb
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ class UserUpdater
     :digest_after_minutes,
     :new_topic_duration_minutes,
     :auto_track_topics_after_msecs,
+    :notification_level_when_replying,
     :email_previous_replies,
     :email_in_reply_to,
     :like_notification_frequency,
diff --git a/config/locales/client.en.yml b/config/locales/client.en.yml
index d7d843602b3..9395c5ac4bd 100644
--- a/config/locales/client.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/client.en.yml
@@ -739,6 +739,8 @@ en:
         after_5_minutes: "after 5 minutes"
         after_10_minutes: "after 10 minutes"
 
+      notification_level_when_replying: "When I post in a topic, set that topic to"
+
       invited:
         search: "type to search invites..."
         title: "Invites"
diff --git a/config/locales/server.en.yml b/config/locales/server.en.yml
index 649f99fe9af..61988898c10 100644
--- a/config/locales/server.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/server.en.yml
@@ -1373,6 +1373,7 @@ en:
 
     default_other_new_topic_duration_minutes: "Global default condition for which a topic is considered new."
     default_other_auto_track_topics_after_msecs: "Global default time before a topic is automatically tracked."
+    default_other_notification_level_when_replying: "Global default notification level when the user replies to a topic."
     default_other_external_links_in_new_tab: "Open external links in a new tab by default."
     default_other_enable_quoting: "Enable quote reply for highlighted text by default."
     default_other_dynamic_favicon: "Show new/updated topic count on browser icon by default."
diff --git a/config/site_settings.yml b/config/site_settings.yml
index 3a80594f62b..e44994e8b15 100644
--- a/config/site_settings.yml
+++ b/config/site_settings.yml
@@ -1247,6 +1247,9 @@ user_preferences:
   default_other_auto_track_topics_after_msecs:
     enum: 'AutoTrackDurationSiteSetting'
     default: 240000
+  default_other_notification_level_when_replying:
+    enum: 'NotificationLevelWhenReplyingSiteSetting'
+    default: 2
   default_other_external_links_in_new_tab: false
   default_other_enable_quoting: true
   default_other_dynamic_favicon: false
diff --git a/db/migrate/20160930123330_add_notification_level_when_replying.rb b/db/migrate/20160930123330_add_notification_level_when_replying.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0d3a9f6a5a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20160930123330_add_notification_level_when_replying.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddNotificationLevelWhenReplying < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :user_options, :notification_level_when_replying, :integer
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/post_creator.rb b/lib/post_creator.rb
index b03af3d8683..0cd26aa33d9 100644
--- a/lib/post_creator.rb
+++ b/lib/post_creator.rb
@@ -452,9 +452,11 @@ class PostCreator
     end
 
     if @user.staged
-      TopicUser.auto_watch(@user.id, @topic.id)
+      TopicUser.auto_notification_for_staging(@user.id, @topic.id, TopicUser.notification_reasons[:auto_watch])
+    elsif @user.user_option.notification_level_when_replying === NotificationLevels.topic_levels[:watching]
+      TopicUser.auto_notification(@user.id, @topic.id, TopicUser.notification_reasons[:created_post], NotificationLevels.topic_levels[:watching])
     else
-      TopicUser.auto_track(@user.id, @topic.id, TopicUser.notification_reasons[:created_post])
+      TopicUser.auto_notification(@user.id, @topic.id, TopicUser.notification_reasons[:created_post], NotificationLevels.topic_levels[:tracking])
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb b/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb
index 54efd31cc9b..ab1bd548663 100644
--- a/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb
@@ -798,6 +798,42 @@ describe PostCreator do
     end
   end
 
+  context "topic tracking" do
+    it "automatically watches topic based on preference" do
+      user.user_option.notification_level_when_replying = 3
+
+      admin = Fabricate(:admin)
+      topic = PostCreator.create(admin,
+                                 title: "this is the title of a topic created by an admin for watching notification",
+                                 raw: "this is the content of a topic created by an admin for keeping a watching notification state on a topic ;)"
+      )
+
+      post = PostCreator.create(user,
+                                topic_id: topic.topic_id,
+                                raw: "this is a reply to set the tracking state to watching ;)"
+      )
+      topic_user = TopicUser.find_by(user_id: user.id, topic_id: post.topic_id)
+      expect(topic_user.notification_level).to eq(TopicUser.notification_levels[:watching])
+    end
+
+    it "topic notification level remains tracking based on preference" do
+      user.user_option.notification_level_when_replying = 2
+
+      admin = Fabricate(:admin)
+      topic = PostCreator.create(admin,
+                                 title: "this is the title of a topic created by an admin for tracking notification",
+                                 raw: "this is the content of a topic created by an admin for keeping a tracking notification state on a topic ;)"
+      )
+
+      post = PostCreator.create(user,
+                                topic_id: topic.topic_id,
+                                raw: "this is a reply to set the tracking state to tracking ;)"
+      )
+      topic_user = TopicUser.find_by(user_id: user.id, topic_id: post.topic_id)
+      expect(topic_user.notification_level).to eq(TopicUser.notification_levels[:tracking])
+    end
+  end
+
   describe '#create!' do
     it "should return the post if it was successfully created" do
       title = "This is a valid title"
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
index 2552c11f496..f0bea747de3 100644
--- a/spec/models/user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -1246,6 +1246,7 @@ describe User do
 
       SiteSetting.default_other_new_topic_duration_minutes = -1 # not viewed
       SiteSetting.default_other_auto_track_topics_after_msecs = 0 # immediately
+      SiteSetting.default_other_notification_level_when_replying = 3 # immediately
       SiteSetting.default_other_external_links_in_new_tab = true
       SiteSetting.default_other_enable_quoting = false
       SiteSetting.default_other_dynamic_favicon = true
@@ -1273,6 +1274,7 @@ describe User do
       expect(options.email_direct).to eq(false)
       expect(options.new_topic_duration_minutes).to eq(-1)
       expect(options.auto_track_topics_after_msecs).to eq(0)
+      expect(options.notification_level_when_replying).to eq(3)
 
       expect(CategoryUser.lookup(user, :watching).pluck(:category_id)).to eq([1])
       expect(CategoryUser.lookup(user, :tracking).pluck(:category_id)).to eq([2])
diff --git a/spec/serializers/user_serializer_spec.rb b/spec/serializers/user_serializer_spec.rb
index 09213ea23fb..52613f9d501 100644
--- a/spec/serializers/user_serializer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/serializers/user_serializer_spec.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ describe UserSerializer do
     it "serializes options correctly" do
       # so we serialize more stuff
       SiteSetting.default_other_auto_track_topics_after_msecs = 0
+      SiteSetting.default_other_notification_level_when_replying = 3
       SiteSetting.default_other_new_topic_duration_minutes = 60*24
 
       user = Fabricate.build(:user,
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ describe UserSerializer do
       expect(json[:user_option][:dynamic_favicon]).to eq(true)
       expect(json[:user_option][:new_topic_duration_minutes]).to eq(60*24)
       expect(json[:user_option][:auto_track_topics_after_msecs]).to eq(0)
+      expect(json[:user_option][:notification_level_when_replying]).to eq(3)
 
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/services/user_updater_spec.rb b/spec/services/user_updater_spec.rb
index 7a7de4234b1..a9a69ef6d7d 100644
--- a/spec/services/user_updater_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/user_updater_spec.rb
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ describe UserUpdater do
                      digest_after_minutes: "45",
                      new_topic_duration_minutes: 100,
                      auto_track_topics_after_msecs: 101,
+                     notification_level_when_replying: 3,
                      email_in_reply_to: false
                     )
       expect(val).to be_truthy
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ describe UserUpdater do
       expect(user.user_option.digest_after_minutes).to eq 45
       expect(user.user_option.new_topic_duration_minutes).to eq 100
       expect(user.user_option.auto_track_topics_after_msecs).to eq 101
+      expect(user.user_option.notification_level_when_replying).to eq 3
       expect(user.user_option.email_in_reply_to).to eq false
     end