I have drafted a clarification for WP:3RR. It now reads: '''If you violate the three revert rule, after your fourth revert in 24 hours sysops may block you for up to 24 hours. In the cases where multiple parties violate the rule, sysops should treat all sides equally.''' The added text is "after your fourth revert in 24 hours".
Please check and copy edit.
Perhaps the confusion here is the assumption that the first time one adds information to (or deletes information from) an article, it is not a "revert", but the subsequent 3 additions (and deletions) are "reverts". Thus "3 reverts in 24 hours" can mean 1 edit, then 3 reverts to it.
Jay.