Durova wrote:
Regarding block duration, extremely short blocks tend to backfire. Human nature is that people usually become less grumpy after a good meal and a night's rest. Nearly everyone will eat and sleep within 24 hours, so my threshold for civility blocks was 'Did this go far enough that the person should sleep on it?' If it wasn't that serious then the thing to do is engage the editor politely or shrug it off. It's a misnomer to call really short blocks 'cool-down blocks': an editor who gets blocked at 9pm after missing dinner may return in the wee hours hungrier, more fatigued and more upset than before.
In some cases by the time of the block, the offender may already be sleeping it off. One needs to pay attention to time zones, or how much time has elapsed since the incivility. A Sunday night block of a person who only shows up on weekends may have no effect at all.
A lot of editors won't promise to cease the behavior either. We often can't get that type of promise even for situations where it's really needed such as threats and privacy policy violations. Often enough the editor is actually willing to not do it again, but dislikes the one-down position they perceive in that. It comes too close to a coerced apology for some people's tastes. So while it may be appropriate to seek this promise before unblocking for bannable behavior, garden variety incivility doesn't merit it--unless perhaps the incivility itself is so habitual and extreme that it's actually bannable.
I strongly agree. In some cultures saving face is an important element of common courtesy.
Ec