---
title: Collaborating with maintainers using discussions
shortTitle: Collaborating with maintainers
intro: 'You can contribute to the goals, plans, health, and community for a project on {% data variables.product.product_name %} by communicating with the maintainers of the project in a discussion.'
permissions: People with read permissions to a repository can start and participate in discussions in the repository.
versions:
  fpt: '*'
---


## About collaboration with maintainers using {% data variables.product.prodname_discussions %}

{% data reusables.discussions.about-discussions %} If you use or contribute to a project, you can start a discussion to make suggestions and engage with maintainers and community members about your plans, questions, ideas, and feedback. For more information, see "[‎About discussions](/discussions/collaborating-with-your-community-using-discussions/about-discussions)."

{% data reusables.discussions.about-categories-and-formats %} {% data reusables.discussions.about-announcement-format %} 

Repository administrators and project maintainers can delete a discussion. For more information, see "[Managing discussions in your repository](/discussions/managing-discussions-for-your-community/managing-discussions-in-your-repository#deleting-a-discussion)."

{% data reusables.discussions.github-recognizes-members %} These members appear in a list of the most helpful contributors to the project's discussions. As your project grows, you can grant higher access permissions to active members of your community. For more information, see "[Granting higher permissions to top contributors](/discussions/guides/granting-higher-permissions-to-top-contributors)"

![Most helpful contributors to discussions for a project](/assets/images/help/discussions/most-helpful.png)

For more information about participation in discussions, see "[Participating in a discussion](/discussions/collaborating-with-your-community-using-discussions/participating-in-a-discussion)."

## Prerequisites

To collaborate with maintainers in discussions, a repository administrator or project maintainer must enable {% data variables.product.prodname_discussions %} for the repository. For more information, see "[Enabling or disabling {% data variables.product.prodname_discussions %} for a repository](/github/administering-a-repository/enabling-or-disabling-github-discussions-for-a-repository)."

## Starting a discussion

{% data reusables.discussions.starting-a-discussion %}

## Filtering the list of discussions

You can search for discussions and filter the list of discussions in a repository. For more information, see "[Searching discussions](/github/searching-for-information-on-github/searching-discussions)."

{% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %}
{% data reusables.discussions.discussions-tab %}
1. In the **Search all discussions** field, type a search query. Optionally, to the right of the search field, click a button to further filter the results.
  ![Search bar and buttons for filtering discussions](/assets/images/help/discussions/search-and-filter-controls.png)
1. In the list of discussions, click the discussion you want to view.
  ![Discussion search results](/assets/images/help/discussions/search-result.png)

## Converting an issue to a discussion

{% data reusables.discussions.you-can-convert-an-issue %} For more information, see "[Moderating discussions in your repository](/discussions/managing-discussions-for-your-community/moderating-discussions#converting-an-issue-to-a-discussion#converting-an-issue-to-a-discussion)."

## Further reading

- "[About writing and formatting on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}](/github/writing-on-github/about-writing-and-formatting-on-github)"
- "[Maintaining your safety on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}](/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github)"