Hi,
is there any way to discuss/comment a merge request? I received a MR suggestion recently and apparently the only way forward is to “accept” the change (or ignore it, obviously). How can I get in touch with the suggestion’s author, to thank them and/or explain why and how am I going to change the code prior to merge?
Click the dots in the left margin next to a cell, then click Comment in the cell menu.
A-ha, thanks! I had no idea that those dots are (also) to be used for discussion.
You can also reply to comments (without going through the cell menu) by clicking +Comment, if someone sent you a suggestion with a comment.
Hi Mike,
I tried the advised solution today and failed miserably – probably because I am missing some crucial point here. The URL in question is https://observablehq.com/compare/805c1e14c23e6f50@262...863f1c5c5e5c2c66@256 ; the per-line dots menu (next to the diffed content) is not showing the “Comment” command (only Close/Download/Delete); also there is no “+Comment” button at the top, even though the suggestion displays a comment there.
Hi Ondřej. Is the suggestion still open? If the suggestion is closed, you can no longer comment on it. You can only comment on open suggestions (before they are merged or closed).
Hi Mike,
ah, that would explain it. I already merged the code in question (the other day), so that probably means the suggestion is “closed” now.
We’ve been discussing changing how comments work so you can comment on anyone’s notebook at any time, but in the meantime, if you want to send Philippe a comment you can go to his notebook (or click the “Fork = …” link at the top of compare), click on the cell menu, click on Comment, and then create a new suggestion.
Hey Ondřej,
not to distract you from this discussion on the observable UX, but you can also email me if you want 
( fil@rezo.net )
On a related note, I think it would be great to be able to make changes to merge requests before doing the merge. Maybe I am just missing something, because here it mentions that
If I choose, I can even edit a cell to make further changes.
but I couldn’t figure out how to do that so far.
I could tell you in a single sentence, but let me instead waste 50 seconds of your time with this gif:
tl;dr: Click “Parent” or “Fork” above that cell, then edit the code.
Thank you! 
I thought the changes would not be persistent because once you do a change, then click Parent, and then click on Fork again, your change is reverted.
