Phil Boswell wrote:
IIRC this also happened when SnowSpinner
"deprecated" {{if}} by replacing
the functional (but horrible, don't get the idea I fail to agree with that
:-) code with a notice saying that this template had been deprecated and
should be replaced.
I recall reports that it took about 15 minutes to recover, but I can't
remember whether this was for the DB lock, or for all uses to be replaced. I
do know it was surprisingly fast, even for those of us who had been
expressing scepticism that any one template could hold the DB to ransom :-)
It should be noted that he did check in #wikimedia-tech first to make
sure the devs wouldn't hunt him down and kill him!
- d.