QUOTE(Rhindle @ Wed 23rd November 2011, 2:37pm)
The thing is how long can an FA keep its status without eroding? Subtle vandals can just water down that featured article and it can ultimately end up total crap because "anyone can edit." Sure, there are those who protect articles but how many years can you keep that up? If you can just say once an article reaches FA status it should be locked up and just be updated when something new comes up. However, the culture over there will never allow it.
I've thought about this before too - cynically, and all. So you get an article you care about to FA status. The thing to do THEN is to make a sockpuppet and start vandalizing your own FA. Then use your legitimate account to request protection. And usually once that's in place, the admins loose interest so it can be protected more or less indefinitely (if someone removes it, go back to step one).
It's sort of a "ghetto flagged revisions" for a system that refuses to implement them but badly needs'em.
Of course I've never done anything like this, but it makes sense.