When the discussion of an issue or a merge request is locked only team members can write new comments and edit the old ones.
There might be some cases where a discussion is better off if it's locked down.
For example:
### Modifying discussion lock
- Discussions that are several years old and the issue/merge request is closed,
but people continue to try to resurrect the discussion.
- Discussions where someone or a group of people are trolling, are abusive, or
in-general are causing the discussion to be unproductive.
To lock or unlock a dicsussion, find the Lock section in the sidebar and click **Edit**. A popup should appear and give you the option to turn on or turn off the discussion lock.
In locked discussions, only team members can write new comments and edit the old
ones.
To lock or unlock a discussion, you need to have at least Master [permissions]:
1. Find the "Lock" section in the sidebar and click **Edit**
1. In the dialog that will appear, you can choose to turn on or turn off the
discussion lock
1. Optionally, leave a comment to explain your reasoning behind that action
| Turn off discussion lock | Turn on discussion lock |
| :-----------: | :----------: |
|  |  |
Every change is indicated by a system note in the issue's or merge request's comments.
Every change is indicated by a system note in the issue's or merge request's
comments.
### Indications of locked issues or merge requests
While you are inside the locked issue or merge request and you are a project team member you can see an indicator in the comment form that the issue or merge request is locked.
If you are not a team member you won't see the comment form but only the information that the dicussion is locked.
Once an issue or merge request is locked, project members can see the indicator
in the comment area, whereas non project members can only see the information
that the discussion is locked.
| Team member | Not a member |
| :-----------: | :----------: |
|  |  |
