Note by BD: I think it is important to clarify that "that question" below refers to (at least) two very different threads. Namely (2.) appears to refer to the "bug" tag war in the question "Single comment split into many comments" about returns posting comments. On the other hand, "the replacement Q is much better" appears to refer the question on the annoying captcha algorithm - which had no tag wars. It's not clear which question (1.) denotes. Ditto for "user misbehavior". --BD]
That question was locked because
It wasn't a constructive question, e.g., "Why does {x} suck so much?"
Users were taking it upon themselves to editorially classify it as a [bug], by reverting moderator edits.
(the replacement Q is much better, by the way -- so in that sense, the locking produced the desired effect -- to keep things constructive)
As for [locked] as a question status, that's rare enough that it has never been needed; I don't see any need for it here.
These sorts of problems are typically related to user misbehavior not system misbehavior. Treat the disease, not the symptoms. In extreme cases, we reach out to the user to try to work it out, and if we can't work it out, possible timed suspensions.
[locked]
appended to locked questions isn't supposed to be a bother to implement and to look at. $\endgroup$ – J. M. isn't a mathematician Nov 16 '10 at 7:31