Ok, I thought I would post an update as to my progress on this problem. I have discovered that the thread I read in this forum DOES, in fact, work (sort of) to rectify the problem:
https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/lock-screen-not-working-in-21-10/5466/11
The reason I assumed it wasn’t the same problem as mine was the insistence in the thread that it was as a result of either an upgrade process or the USER installing some aspects of gnome.
I KNEW mine was a completely clean install of Ubuntu Budgie after wiping the hard drive so, I ‘KNEW’ this couldn’t be what was causing my issue… but it was! The Budgie Installer MUST install these unwanted components as gnome has not been on my system since my disk was wiped and I have done almost nothing after installing budgie except try to get it to work.
The trouble now, is that the computer is still not behaving as expected. Now, the screen dims, then eventually fades to black and locks, HOWEVER, just when you think the systen is behaving as you would expect and want, that’s when the screen immediately comes to life at half brightness and displays the lock screen for eternity, burning that into your screen instead.
I’m confused…still. Is there a fix for this?