docs/content/discussions/collaborating-with-your-community-using-discussions/about-discussions.md

title	intro	versions
About discussions	Use discussions to ask and answer questions, share information, make announcements, and conduct or participate in a conversation about a project on {% data variables.product.product_name %}.	[{free-pro-team *}]

{% data reusables.discussions.beta %}

About discussions

With {% data variables.product.prodname_discussions %}, the community for your project can create and participate in conversations within the project's repository. Discussions empower a project's maintainers, contributors, and visitors to gather and accomplish the following goals in a central location, without third-party tools.

• Share announcements and information, gather feedback, plan, and make decisions
• Ask questions, discuss and answer the questions, and mark the discussions as answered
• Foster an inviting atmosphere for visitors and contributors to discuss goals, development, administration, and workflows

You don't need to close a discussion like you close an issue or a pull request.

If a repository administrator or project maintainer enables discussions for a repository, anyone who visits the repository can create and participate in discussions for the repository. Repository administrators and project maintainers can manage discussions and discussion categories in a repository, and pin discussions to increase the visibility of the discussion. Moderators and collaborators can mark comments as answers, lock discussions, and convert issues to discussions. For more information, see "Repository permission levels for an organization."

For more information about management of discussions for your repository, see "Managing discussions in your repository."

About discussion organization

You can organize discussions with categories and labels.

{% data reusables.discussions.you-can-categorize-discussions %} {% data reusables.discussions.about-categories-and-formats %} {% data reusables.discussions.repository-category-limit %}

For discussions with a question/answer format, an individual comment within the discussion can be marked as the discussion's answer. {% data reusables.discussions.github-recognizes-members %}

{% data reusables.discussions.about-announcement-format %}

For more information, see "Managing categories for discussions in your repository."

{% data reusables.discussions.you-can-label-discussions %}

Best practices for discussions

As a community member or maintainer, start a discussion to ask a question or discuss information that affects the community. For more information, see "Collaborating with maintainers using discussions."

Participate in a discussion to ask and answer questions, provide feedback, and engage with the project's community. For more information, see "Participating in a discussion."

You can spotlight discussions that contain important, useful, or exemplary conversations among members in the community. For more information, see "Managing discussions in your repository."

{% data reusables.discussions.you-can-convert-an-issue %} For more information, see "Moderating discussions in your repository."

Sharing feedback

You can share your feedback about {% data variables.product.prodname_discussions %} with {% data variables.product.company_short %}. To join the conversation, see github/feedback.

Further reading

• "About writing and formatting on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}"
• "Searching discussions"
• "About notifications"
• "Moderating comments and conversations"
• "Maintaining your safety on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}"