to realize overnight. It's becoming clear to me that by reading the "Ko rule" into the 3RR I am being led to a different interpretation than many take from the rule. The Ko rule allows a repeat of a Ko when progress is made between repeats. That's what I focussed on and believed to be the letter and intent of the law. Perhaps having the Ko rule as an analogy in the rule is a mistake.
That analogy fooled me too. The rules for what constitutes three reverts or not is so unclear that you have to be extremely careful when editing contentious articles.