Users can post new node but ONLY Unpublished status
The obvious thing is that the "published" option is unticked on the content type. So if you go to "structure > content types > question" (/admin/structure/types/manage/question) and then click "Publishing option" is the published ticked? That controls the default status

If its not that then you must have some other module/code doing it. Without knowing your sites setup I dont think people can help much further