Allow notifications of specific sub-discussions / answers

[jay]

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Product Feedback

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For big discussions like gathering feedback I would like to receive replies just to my answer or suggestion that starts its own subdiscussion / answer thread in the discussion (I'm not sure of the terminology here).

For example, I gave some product feedback in the discussion question Evolving GitHub Issues - Public Preview and I would like to receive e-mail notifications of replies to my answer thread in the discussion but not anything outside of that. Currently the way it works I receive each update to that discussion via e-mail but to me that is a lot of noise.

Let's say someone replies that they need more information or they fixed the problem, etc in that answer. That is something I want to know about by email but in order to know about it I have to stay subscribed to the whole thing and receive all the replies of everyone else's feedback.

[github-actions[bot]]

💬 Your Product Feedback Has Been Submitted 🎉

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us! Your feedback is invaluable as we build a better GitHub experience for all our users.

Here's what you can expect moving forward ⏩

• Your input will be carefully reviewed and cataloged by members of our product teams. 
  • Due to the high volume of submissions, we may not always be able to provide individual responses.
  • Rest assured, your feedback will help chart our course for product improvements.
• Other users may engage with your post, sharing their own perspectives or experiences. 
• GitHub staff may reach out for further clarification or insight. 
  • We may 'Answer' your discussion if there is a current solution, workaround, or roadmap/changelog post related to the feedback.

Where to look to see what's shipping 👀

• Read the Changelog for real-time updates on the latest GitHub features, enhancements, and calls for feedback.
• Explore our Product Roadmap, which details upcoming major releases and initiatives.

What you can do in the meantime 💻

• Upvote and comment on other user feedback Discussions that resonate with you.
• Add more information at any point! Useful details include: use cases, relevant labels, desired outcomes, and any accompanying screenshots.

As a member of the GitHub community, your participation is essential. While we can't promise that every suggestion will be implemented, we want to emphasize that your feedback is instrumental in guiding our decisions and priorities.

Thank you once again for your contribution to making GitHub even better! We're grateful for your ongoing support and collaboration in shaping the future of our platform. ⭐

[jay]

This is still a real nuisance for me, I have to stay subscribed to #163932 to wait for comments to my reply. In the meantime I've received tons of e-mail updates for that same discussion for things that have nothing to do with me.

[CyberVerve07]

1. Thread-Level Notifications (Feature Request)
   Right now, GitHub sends notifications for the entire Discussion, not per reply thread. It would be amazing to have:

• A “Subscribe to this reply” option
• Or auto-subscribe to replies on your own comment
• Bonus: Let us mute the main thread but stay subscribed to our sub-thread
  This would reduce noise a lot, especially in feedback-heavy or community-driven repos.

🧪 2. Workaround (Not Ideal, but Helps)
If you’re using Gmail or Outlook, you can:

• Set up filters to only surface emails that mention your GitHub username or your comment content
• Or use GitHub’s custom notification filters to narrow down by repo/discussion type
  Still not perfect, but better than inbox overload.

🔄 3. Possible Integration with Discussions + Docs
I’ve seen some teams use GitHub Discussions + GitHub Pages or Notion to sync FAQs and feedback. If GitHub allowed webhooks or APIs for specific replies, we could automate syncing relevant threads into knowledge bases.

[jeremiah-snee-openx]

Was about to create a feature request for sub-discussions with improved UI. Like a discussion that has a list of sub-discussions.

For Example Comment I made here is really hard to find in

• Webhooks not working #63932

Would be nice to have a searchable, Sortable & Filterable & list/table of Sub-Discussions from the Parent Discussion.

• Support moving comment threads to Sub-Discussions
• On a per discussion level config with configurable defaults based in the discussion home repo, Provide Permission model that can restrict
  • creation of sub-discussion,
  • conversion of comment to sub-discussions

[jeremiah-snee-openx]

• Improved sub-discussions / threads UI #185381