How do I structure a Q&A Discussion so that it doesn't go away?

[Rod-at-DOH]

Discussion Type

Question

Discussion Content

Two years ago, I added Discussions to a repo in one of our GitHub organizations. Then I created a post there, with "Q&A" as the category. The post said that any questions about the repo could be entered here, and that was it. I thought I was done.

Since then, no one has added any questions, but that doesn't surprise me.

Today I revisited that repo and added an Announcement discussion. I went into more depth describing what the Q&A was for. I noticed that the Q&A I created 2 years ago was open issue, so I closed it. But that made the Q&A completely disappear!! That is NOT what I expected nor want!

Even though I've used GitHub Community Forums, which are just large discussions and Q&A, I now realize that somehow, I am not understanding how it works in practice. Especially at the repo level. I want a discussion in the repo's Discussion area, that will not go away, even if every question gets answered and closed. Is that not possible? If it isn't possible, then how in heck do the discussions in GitHub's Community forums stay around?

[nouramaherelamin]

Closing a Discussion shouldn't normally make it disappear. If you want a persistent Q&A space, keep the discussion category enabled in your repository's settings and use the Q&A category for questions.

If the post was actually an Issue rather than a Discussion, closing it will move it out of the open Issues list, but it should still be accessible under closed Issues. You may want to check whether the original post was created as an Issue or a Discussion.

[rfalanga]

(I am responding from home. Rod-at-DOH is my work GitHub account.)

How do you make a discussion category enabled in a repository setting? I was looking for that at work, but I didn't see it. I am missing something.

It was not an issue; it was a discussion. But when I closed it, the Q&A discussion just disappeared, which was very frustrating. I've no idea why.

[charanreddy0006]

Hi! 👋

You can manage Discussions and their categories from your repository settings:

1. Open the repository on GitHub.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Under General, find the Features section.
4. Make sure Discussions is enabled. If it isn't, enable it.
5. Open the repository's Discussions tab and check the available categories.

If you want to change the categories themselves, look for the category management option within the Discussions area, if available to your repository permissions.

Regarding the original discussion disappearing after being closed, I would first check whether it was moved to a different view or filtered out, and whether the repository's Discussions page is displaying only open discussions. I wouldn't assume that closing a discussion permanently deletes it.

I hope this helps!

[rfalanga]

I'm looking at it in my personal account (I'm home from work today). It looked a little different than when I was at work yesterday, especially because when I enabled it for one of my public repos, the first thing it had was a button to "configure" discussions, and that was more limited. If I just checked the checkbox to enable discussions, then clicked on the Discussion link at the top, it gave me more like what I see at work.

When I return to work next week, I'll have to take a look to see if the Discussions page only displays open discussions. That would make sense as to why it disappeared, when I closed that discussion, as it was the only Q&A.

[muhammadakfz]

Closing a GitHub Discussion doesn't delete it. It just marks it as closed, so it might no longer appear in the default view. Try searching for is:closed. You should be able to find it and reopen it.

I think the confusion comes from how GitHub organizes Discussions. The Q&A category is a permanent section of your repository, while the post you created two years ago was just one discussion within that category.

For what you're trying to do, I'd keep the Q&A category and create a pinned announcement explaining where people should post their questions. You can leave that announcement open so it's always easy to find.

People can then start their own discussions in the Q&A category. Once a question is resolved, you can mark an answer as accepted or close the discussion. The category itself stays there regardless.

That's also how GitHub Community Discussions work. Closing individual threads doesn't remove the category or prevent people from asking new questions.

[rfalanga]

I discovered that when I reopened the Q&A that I had closed. I found it under Closed.

But what I didn't understand was why the Q&A discussion was no longer available/visible! That is the major problem!! I'm would like us to use discussions, rather than something else that is outside of GitHub.

So, are you saying that somehow, within the Q&A section, I am to create an Announcement, which will never be closed, thus keeping the Q&A section always visible? If so, I'll have to do that when I return to work next week.