[duskwuff]

There is one way to disable pull requests on GitHub: enabling "interaction limits" on the repository. The gotchas are that it disables all interactions, not just pull requests, and it can only be enabled for 6 months at a time.

[madeofpalk]

GitHub should have an option to disable PRs for a repo, however:

- Owners are of no obligation to approve, close, merge, or interact with a PR in any way. If you don’t want to merge a PR, just don’t.

- you can include a readme which can include whatever discouragement you want.

- if you have a CONTRIBUTORS.md file, GitHub will show that to first time contributors when they submit a PR.

- I’m sure you could trivially have a GitHub action that will auto close all PRs as soon as they’re submitted.

[brunoborges]

All of that imply that contributors will read things before hitting the Fork button.

[duskwuff]

And everything (besides ignoring PRs) requires content to be explicitly added to the repository to configure GitHub's behavior. For some use cases -- like mirrors of repositories hosted elsewhere -- this isn't possible.

[madeofpalk]

If someone's not going to bother themselves with checking the readme or contributors guide before submitting a PR, then they shouldn't be bothered by their PR being ignored or rejected.

[brunoborges]

What I described is what I believe GitHub should support. Not that they support it today.

[duskwuff]

Right, I mean that there is a (caveat-ridden) workaround as it stands. I agree that repository maintainers should have the option to restrict or disable pull requests, just like they can disable other features.