I want to be able to discuss a project

Try https://giscus.app/ and https://github.com/giscus/giscus-component

Need to make sure we enable discussions when creating a project.

Maybe embedding an Etherpad could also be cool? How to version control that, or how to ensure important stuff from there makes its way into actual artifacts in the repo?

Start by reviewing the project-creation flow and the linked giscus.app and giscus-component resources. Clarify whether GitHub Discussions or an embedded Etherpad is required, how collaboration content should be preserved, and which outcome counts as done.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.