Sorry to keep changing subject headings, but there thread are tough to follow.
Professer Lih wrote:
I would like to see article protection as a preferred first step before blocking someone over 3RR. The 3RR would be better if it required this. And as much as people say, "It's just a 24 hour ban, get over it," most would consider it a stain on their reputation within the community if they were blocked. As we can see from the RfA votes, these things do get dredged up.
What about reviving the idea of blocking a user from editing a particular article? If someone blocked me from editing one of the gitmo articles for a couple of days, I'd "get the message" and I wouldn't feel the need for a dramatic exit.
As a matter of fact, I'm blocked right now - but only by virtue of voluntarily following the advice of Ta Bu Shi. (Technically, I'm not blocked, but I'm avoiding the page as he suggested.)
This would be great for newbies, especially the "unsigned-in" at libraries and school. It's a big shock to be blocked from all edits. You can't even say "sorry" on a talk page! But being blocked from editing Elvis Presley for one hour - while you can TALK ABOUT YOUR EDITS on the talk page - would be great.
I bet our team of programmers have already written the code for this feature. How about it, Tim Starling? Can you and Magnus and Brion provide something like this?
Uncle Ed