The question "How to deal with instructor forcing me to do an uninteresting optional exercise?" has been locked recently. The question is kind a of mirrored question to How to deal with uninterested students during an optional exercise session? and I think that both questions are a good and especially, both have great answers. However, the first question was has received several downvotes and also quite a few upvotes (currently being at -6 total). I imagine that the downvotes are partly due to the somehow offensive phrasing "some internet people".
My guess is that the question has been locked because of the heavy downvotes; here you find some reasons why posts should be locked (heavy downvotes are not exactly on the list…). As a locked question, there can't be up- and downvotes on the question and also no edits or comments can be made. I have the feeling, that the question should have been better received and would like to edit it (tone down a little), comment that I find the question reasonable and also upvote it. I could have flagged for moderator attention, but thought, I could learn more if I asked on meta.
Specifically:
Is asking on meta equally good as flagging?
Why was this question locked? (I have some guess, probably would have done the same, but I am curious.)
How to proceed with the question?
