Jim Cecropia said:
Well of course page protection is
unpopular and banning has a "good
consensus'--page protection affects *me* but banning affects *them*. :)
Precisely. It's like the speed limit. Only unrestrained editors ever
whine about it.>
But consider that page protection can be short--just
long enough, if
the participants calm down, for the admin to look at the situation and
put a few choice comments and suggestions on the article talk, and see
if he s/he can get some feedback as to how to proceed. Yes, this is
some work for the admin, but the admin cannot take a step like that and
walk away. In fact, one admin who did that (among other things) was
de-admined. With the 3RR block, the admin is walking away: the
"winning" side is satisfied, and the "loser" stews in his/her juices
for 24 hours. This is easy but doesn't contribute to Wikipedia, the
community, or the encyclopedia.
You're expecting far too much from administrators. We're editors, not
fairy godmothers. I should bloody well hope that the "loser" stews.
That's what the 3RR is for. Learn to play nice or stew. How hard is it
for a bright editor to work out what side of that equation he wants to be
on?