diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/groups.js.handlebars b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/groups.js.handlebars
index 4296991147..e5ef8efa77 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/groups.js.handlebars
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/groups.js.handlebars
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-<!-- work in progress, please ignore -->
 <div class='row groups'>
   <div class='content-list span6'>
     <h3>{{i18n admin.groups.edit}}</h3>
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@
             {{textField value=name placeholderKey="admin.groups.name_placeholder"}}
           {{/if}}
 
-          {{userSelector usernames=usernames id="group-users" placeholderKey="admin.groups.selector_placeholder" tabindex="1"}}
+          {{userSelector usernames=usernames id="group-users" placeholderKey="admin.groups.selector_placeholder" tabindex="1" disabledBinding="automatic"}}
           <div class='controls'>
             <button {{action save this}} {{bindAttr disabled="disableSave"}} class='btn'>{{i18n admin.customize.save}}</button>
             {{#unless automatic}}
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/autocomplete.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/autocomplete.js
index 842478b6c2..516149ee58 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/autocomplete.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/autocomplete.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ $.fn.autocomplete = function(options) {
     alert("only supporting one matcher at the moment");
   }
 
+  var disabled = options && options.disabled;
   var wrap = null;
   var autocompleteOptions = null;
   var selectedOption = null;
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ $.fn.autocomplete = function(options) {
   if (isInput) {
     var width = this.width();
     var height = this.height();
-    wrap = this.wrap("<div class='ac-wrap clearfix'/>").parent();
+    wrap = this.wrap("<div class='ac-wrap clearfix" + (disabled ? " disabled": "") +  "'/>").parent();
     wrap.width(width);
     this.width(150);
     this.attr('name', this.attr('name') + "-renamed");
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/user_selector_view.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/user_selector_view.js
index c530dfa591..7ce26b2554 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/user_selector_view.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/user_selector_view.js
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Discourse.UserSelector = Discourse.TextField.extend({
     $(this.get('element')).val(this.get('usernames')).autocomplete({
       template: Discourse.UserSelector.templateFunction(),
 
+      disabled: this.get('disabled'),
+
       dataSource: function(term) {
         var exclude = selected;
         if (userSelectorView.get('excludeCurrentUser')){
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/application/compose.css.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/application/compose.css.scss
index ffe634169c..4d39911dc5 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/application/compose.css.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/application/compose.css.scss
@@ -342,15 +342,24 @@
   margin-bottom: 10px;
 }
 
+div.ac-wrap.disabled {
+  input {
+    display:none;
+  }
+  .item a {
+    display:none;
+  }
+}
 
 div.ac-wrap {
   background-color: $white;
   border: 1px solid #cccccc;
-  padding: 4px 10px;
+  padding: 5px 10px 0;
   @include border-radius-all(3px);
   div.item {
     float: left;
     margin-right: 10px;
+    margin-bottom: 5px;
     span {
       padding-left: 5px;
       height: 22px;
@@ -519,4 +528,4 @@ div.ac-wrap {
       margin: 0;
     }
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/groups_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/groups_controller.rb
index 7eb4a7195a..06d9404c03 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/groups_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/groups_controller.rb
@@ -16,11 +16,14 @@ class Admin::GroupsController < Admin::AdminController
 
   def update
     group = Group.find(params[:id].to_i)
-    render_json_error if group.automatic
-    group.usernames = params[:group][:usernames]
-    group.name = params[:group][:name] if params[:name]
-    group.save!
-    render json: "ok"
+    if group.automatic
+      can_not_modify_automatic
+    else
+      group.usernames = params[:group][:usernames]
+      group.name = params[:group][:name] if params[:name]
+      group.save!
+      render json: "ok"
+    end
   end
 
   def create
@@ -33,8 +36,17 @@ class Admin::GroupsController < Admin::AdminController
 
   def destroy
     group = Group.find(params[:id].to_i)
-    render_json_error if group.automatic
-    group.destroy
-    render json: "ok"
+    if group.automatic
+      can_not_modify_automatic
+    else
+      group.destroy
+      render json: "ok"
+    end
+  end
+
+  protected
+
+  def can_not_modify_automatic
+    render json: {errors: I18n.t('groups.errors.can_not_modify_automatic')}, status: 422
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index 4b5c5f74be..3ca7dd5d0f 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -195,7 +195,6 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
     user
   end
 
-
   private
 
     def render_json_error(obj)
diff --git a/config/locales/server.en.yml b/config/locales/server.en.yml
index 274f17112d..5a3649915a 100644
--- a/config/locales/server.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/server.en.yml
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ en:
   private_message_abbrev: "PM"
 
   groups:
+    errors:
+      can_not_modify_automatic: "You can not modify an automatic group"
     default_names:
       admins: "admins"
       moderators: "moderators"