::Hey Friday, I needed a complete unblock for non-wiki reasons.   He did say that any admin could reduce it or unblock at will, which was a concession, but the month long block was far too long to begin with.  I don't think there was justification for *any* block, but for the sake of argument I'll put that aside.   If I'm blocked for a month and some well-meaning admin tries to reduce considerably, the well-meaning admin will likely reduce the block by 75% or so to a week ("considerably" doesn't usually mean 95%) .  The initial blocker emerges with a veneer of fairness, but the result is still a long block.   I guess if, in this case, I blocked for a day or two with the same "anyone can reduce this" caveat it would have been a lot less objectionable to me. 
 ::I don't know if I want to get into the arbcom thing.   It takes a huge amount of work and builds up a network of adversarial relationships.  But I do think it would be very beneficial to wiki if the boundaries of "disruption" were clarified and if this were written into the policy.