Why is my question locked?

Question

I asked the question: Is Post Script (P.S.) still relevant in the age of email? on ELU few days back which resulted into closing and locking of the question.

My version: Why it happened?

Closing of question: I disagreed with the suggested thoughts by commenters on the question in comment section. May be, it resulted because I was not able to expression my thought successfully or make it more clear. Then, it was put on hold for providing further explanation which I did and later they closed with a reason: "closed as primarily opinion-based".

Locking of the question: I deleted by description twice. I thought no body was paying much attention to the description and drafted their comments or answer which they thought is correct. Mostly, the comments and the answer were favoring informal use of P.S. in a email. In description, I stated saying that there is wiki article on it and my question is on formal email and not about informal email. On seeing confusion, I later updated same in my description, before I deleted description completely.

Yes, I was miffed by the way my question was handled and I snapped back at @MetaEd saying, if you want to ban me then please go ahead, but I will not give up on this one, because I tried making it clear many a times that it was about formal email: why we need to use P.S. in formal email communication?

I thought to update my question, but I was locked, hence I can't update it now.

My question (concern), is it possible to unlock the question, so that I can update question making a proper sense?

Answer 1

When a question is "locked" it means that it cannot be unlocked by normal voting procedures and new answers cannot be posted. In this case, the community is also prevented from voting on the locked question but not on its answers (so it's really punishing the OP). Users are also prevented from editing the post itself. Only diamond moderators can lock or unlock posts.

If you wish your question to be unlocked you should address the reason for its closure and remove the "stumbling block". In your case, five users (myself included) said that the question is opinion based.

What does POB mean?

It stands for Primarily Opinion Based, which means there cannot be a right or wrong answer to the OP's question, only answers based on personal opinions. The owner of the locked post should address that specific issue by raising a flag or by posting on meta. Only a mod can unlock the question, so the owner has to especially convince them, but a general consensus from the community might also be persuasive.

In the original question, the OP asked:

Does it make any sense to use P.S. these days while drafting an email?

Please explain why it is not a question asking for users' opinions, however well-informed those opinions might be.

Lastly, when the OP (@Looper) deleted all its contents and replaced it with (entire text)

Is Post Script (P.S.) still relevant?
Is Post Script (P.S.) still relevant? I am expecting any answer here

they didn't help the situation. But they did successfully boil it down to a single phrase.

Answer

Use common sense. If writing a P.S. is acceptable in chatty emails, and you acknowledged it was, then it's a matter of opinion if it's acceptable in formal correspondence. You probably could add a P.S in an email addressed to a university professor, but less so to a CEO or to your boss.

There are no references that I could find which support my idea.

Answer 2

Sorry this is such a long answer, but I think I can help by clearing up some misconceptions about what happened and what the English Stack Exchange is for.

Why was the question locked, and can it be unlocked?

It was locked after it was defaced twice. Questions should not be defaced. Defacing means modifying so that the original question is gone. The community and the moderator team enforce this. Some tools at their disposal are: unediting (reverting) the question, locking the question, and suspending the account.

I am unlocking the question, so that it can be edited again. But please, if you have a different or related question, do not change the original question. Instead, create a new question.

Why was the question closed, and can it be reopened?

I see several problems with it.

1. You seem to be asking for discussion of your belief that the use of P.S. in formal emails is now obsolete and not necessary. Stack Exchange is for questions that can have a "right" answer. When a question is more of a statement of opinion and a request for other opinions from the community, it is usually closed as too subjective to have a "right" answer.

2. Your question seems to be the same as "Is it appropriate to add a postscript to an email?". When two questions are the same, one is closed as a duplicate of the other, or else the two questions are merged. This is done even when the earlier question is closed or does not have a good answer.

3. You seem to be asking how a good formal business email should be written. The experts here are experts on what English is: the linguistics of English, or you could say English as a technology: its words, grammar, etymology, pronunciation, spelling, punctuation, and variations. Questions about the art of writing or what the English language should be are outside the scope of this site. I think this is why the answers did not satisfy you. You hoped to discuss what the use of postscripts should be, but the answers were more about what the use of postscripts is.

In light of these problems, probably the community will leave the question closed.

Then what can be done?

Languages have different variations for different social situations. This is referred to as register, or formality. Your question touches on register. Instead of starting a discussion of how "P.S." should be used, would it be helpful to you to ask about how "P.S." is used? In current usage, where does it fall on the spectrum of formality? Is it still used formally, or has it shifted and become mostly ironic, or archaic/super-formal?

If that would help you, maybe try posing a new question. I cannot promise that it would be well received, but I think it would avoid some of problems that this question had.