On 14/09/05, Erik Moeller erik_moeller@gmx.de wrote:
Across languages, possibly with the exception of Japanese, the German Wikipedia is alone in the pattern of locking down controversial articles for months.
From [[en:Japanese Wikipedia]] -
"Edit wars are stongly frowned upon. Articles may be protected as a result of an edit war that consists of just three or four edits. Protected pages will not be unprotected unless someone explicitly requests it."
I suspect that last part is the key here.