Support ticket awaiting response for over a week — account visibility issue

[laipingliu]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Other

Body

Issue:
My GitHub account (username: liurenchang62, email: liurenchang62@gmail.com) is experiencing a visibility bug. My public profile and public repositories return a 404 error for anyone except myself, even though:

"Make profile private" is NOT enabled

I have NOT changed my username

All repositories are set to "Public"

I have completed 2FA setup

I can log in normally, but any other user (even logged in) or unauthenticated visitor sees 404.

What I have done:

Opened a support ticket from a secondary account about a week ago

Followed up with a comment on the ticket a few days ago

Checked my email and spam folder — no response from GitHub Support yet

What I need:
I understand the Community cannot directly resolve account issues, but I am hoping to get some guidance on whether my ticket is still in queue, or if there is anything else I need to do to move it forward. This is affecting my ability to share project repositories for a research program application with an upcoming deadline.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[shourya011]

Hi,
This sounds like an account-level restriction/flag rather than a settings issue — since your profile and public repos 404 for everyone but you despite correct visibility settings, that pattern is consistent with a backend review flag (sometimes triggered by automated abuse detection) rather than anything fixable from your end. A few things worth doing:

1. Reply directly on your existing ticket instead of opening a new one
   Opening a second ticket for the same issue can actually slow things down, since it splits your case across two threads and support has to reconcile them. Keep everything on the original ticket thread.
2. Add urgency and specifics directly in that ticket
   Reply with a short, factual update: mention the exact date you opened it, that public settings are already confirmed correct, and that this is blocking a time-sensitive research program submission with a specific deadline (name the date). GitHub Support does prioritize tickets with clear, dated deadlines over vague "please help" follow-ups.
3. Check ticket status via the support dashboard, not just email
   Go to support.github.com → sign in → "View tickets" (top right). Sometimes replies land there before/instead of email, and spam filters occasionally eat GitHub's support emails even when the main notification emails come through fine.
4. If no response within 48–72 hours after your update, escalate via GitHub's status/support Twitter/X
   @githubstatus and @github support handles are monitored and sometimes get faster traction for time-sensitive account issues than the ticket queue, especially when you can reference an existing ticket number.
5. Mention the deadline explicitly and ask for expedited review
   Support teams generally have a process for flagging time-sensitive cases (visa, application, academic deadlines) — but only if you say so clearly. Don't assume they'll infer urgency from the bug description alone.
   This isn't something the Community or any workaround can fix directly, since it looks like a server-side account flag, but keeping pressure on the same ticket thread with a clear deadline is the fastest legitimate path to a human looking at it.

[xusnitdinov]

@laipingliu that "I can see it, everyone else gets 404" pattern is a real support-only bug. Community mods can't flip account visibility flags from here.

Quick checks while you wait on the ticket:

• Confirm https://github.com/liurenchang62 404s in a private/incognito window (and ideally from a friend's account)
• Double-check Settings в†’ Public profile в†’ "Make profile private" is off
• Make sure you didn't hit an org-level restriction or rename that left old links broken
• Keep the support ticket number handy and mention: "public profile + public repos return 404 for everyone except the owner"

Annoying part: Discussions won't unblock this. Support has to fix the account state. A week of silence sucks, but follow-ups on the existing ticket (not a pile of new ones) are better than starting over.

If you can share the ticket number (redact anything personal), people here can at least confirm they've seen the same class of bug before.

[Manindra-babu]

1. Where Is Your Ticket?
   Because you opened the ticket from a secondary account, it is highly likely that GitHub Support's automated internal routing has grouped or stalled the ticket. Their ticketing system heavily prioritizes requests submitted by the specific logged-in account experiencing the restriction to prevent unauthorized account changes.

Additionally, GitHub's automated review queue standard response time ranges from 3 to 7 business days depending on ticket volume.

2. What You Need to Do Right Now (Action Plan)
   Open a Ticket From the Affected Account: Since you can log into liurenchang62 normally, do not rely on the ticket from your secondary account. Go to support.github.com while logged into the broken account. Open a ticket specifically under Account Access -> Appeal an account restriction or suspension (or Profile Visibility). Mention that you have a looming research deadline; human triage teams often escalate time-sensitive academic blockages.

Double-Check Your Dashboard Banner: When logged into liurenchang62, go to your main dashboard page (github.com). Look closely at the very top of the page. Restricted accounts occasionally display a subtle, light-pink or yellow banner stating your profile is hidden. If it is there, it will sometimes have a direct link to submit an automated appeal.

3. Immediate Workarounds for Your Research Deadline
   Since support can take a few days to clear a flag, do not wait for them if your deadline is imminent. Use these methods to ensure your reviewers can see your code:

Export and Share Zipped Repositories: Since your git operations and internal downloads still work, you can download your repositories locally as ZIP files. You can upload these directly to cloud storage providers (like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox) or attach them directly to your application if the portal allows it.

Temporary Mirroring: Create a temporary code repository hosting profile on a platform like GitLab or Bitbucket. You can easily push your local code repositories to these alternative platforms in minutes so your reviewers have working links.