Add discussion templates and disable blank issues (5/5)

[andrewdefilippis]

This is PR 5 of 5 in a series adding GitHub issue, PR, and discussion templates to MeshCore.

Problem / Background

MeshCore's issue chooser config (PR 1) redirects feature requests to the Ideas discussion category and support questions to Q&A, but those categories have no form templates — contributors land on a blank text box. Additionally, once all issue templates are in place, blank issues should be disabled to ensure all submissions use the appropriate template.

What is Changing

New files:

.github/DISCUSSION_TEMPLATE/ideas.yml — Ideas/feature request form:

• Optional hardware input field (e.g., "T1000-E", "all ESP32 boards") — left blank for non-hardware ideas
• Required description textarea (what and why)
• Optional alternatives considered textarea
• Optional additional context textarea
• enhancement label auto-applied
• Title prefix: [Idea]:

.github/DISCUSSION_TEMPLATE/q-a.yml — Q&A/support form:

• Required topic area dropdown (Getting Started, BLE/Companion App, LoRa/Mesh, Build System, Hardware/Wiring, Other)
• Optional hardware input
• Required question textarea
• Optional "what have you tried?" textarea
• Title prefix: [Q&A]:

Updated file:

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml — Sets blank_issues_enabled: false

With all three issue templates now available (bug report from #1828, hardware request from #1830, build issue from #1831), blank issues can be disabled. Contributors must choose a template or use a contact link.

Note: This PR should be merged after PRs 1, 3, and 4 so that all issue templates exist before blank issues are disabled. If merged independently, config.yml creates the ISSUE_TEMPLATE directory with only the config — blank issues will be disabled but no issue templates will be available until the other PRs merge. The contact links (Discussions, Discord) will still work.

Why

• Structured discussions — feature requests and questions arrive with consistent information instead of freeform text
• Complete the template system — the discussion templates are the destination for the contact links set up in PR 1
• No more blank issues — with bug report, hardware request, and build issue templates all available, every issue type has a dedicated form

Expected Outcome

• Ideas discussions are pre-filled with a form asking for hardware, description, alternatives, and context
• Q&A discussions are pre-filled with topic area, hardware, question, and "what have you tried?"
• The "New Issue" page shows only the three issue templates and three contact links — no blank issue option

All PRs in This Series

PR	Content	Status
1	Bug report template + issue chooser config	#1828
2	Pull request template	#1829
3	New hardware request template	#1830
4	Build issue template	#1831
5 (this PR)	Discussion templates + disable blank issues

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[andrewdefilippis]

Examples: https://github.com/andrewdefilippis/MeshCore/blob/personal/workspace/.claude/docs/infrastructure/examples-github-templates.md