Re: [ISSUE] [CLOSED] [RFC] Move package requests elsewhere

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Closed issue by 0x5c on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/36700

Description:
As things are put in place to cut down the backlog by removing stale issues (https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/pull/36399), interest has been shown for excluding package requests from that process (https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/pull/36609).

While the interest in keeping them is justified, package requests as they currently are cause more backlog in the issues and to some extent swamp the bug reports.

Someone voiced on IRC that requests shouldn't be taken via github issues in the first place, and that we should move them elsewhere. That would simply eliminate the problem of requests taking a lot of space in the backlog.
Also mentioned in IRC was the interest for the ability to vote on requests.

## Current situation
Package requests are github issues with the manually applied `request` label. They have been excluded from stalebot's reach, and will never be closed for staleness, perpetually expanding the backlog.
They can easily be closed by PRs (like one adding the package), just like any other issue/PR.

## Available options (non-exhaustive list)
All options, in-github or not, could be integrated in the new issue flow using URLs in the template chooser (see https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/pull/36411)

### Github Discussions
Github discussions are [already documented by github](https://docs.github.com/en/discussions), so I won't ramble on about what they are, but I'll list what would be relevant for package requests.
- Discussions are organised in categories; we'd have one for package requests
- Each discussion topic (in this case; each request) can be voted on
- Conversion between Issues and Discussions is builtin
#### Pros
- Easy migration path is builtin to github, using the "Convert to discussion" button in issues (would also probably be trivial to mass-convert using the API)
- Migration of existing requests will keep all the author metadata of both the requests themselves and comments. (Notifications are preserved too iirc)
#### Cons
- Discussions don't have a concept of "closed" (yet?), the closest being "answered" for categories in "Q&A Mode"
- There is no pre-existing mechanism to mark a discussion as "answered" on merging of a PR, but doing so using webhooks and the API should be relatively trivial)

### Custom service
#### Pros
- Custom means tuned to the needs of void
- Can be made to not require having a github account
#### Cons
- Custom means it needs to be built, maintained, and hosted by void
- Spam prevention and moderation would be more critical; requests are currently "gated" behind the effort of creating a github account

### Other solutions
If you know something else that could be used for requests, please chime in :)