Wikimedia Bugzilla is closed!

When the database is write-protected, there is no indication given to the
administrator that blocking will fail and indeed does fail.

The blocking page should show a disabled version much like the page editing view
does when the database is locked. Furthermore, the message stating that the user
was blocked should produce an error message if the block failed because the
database was locked (because the lock could be imposed between displaying the
blocking page and submitting it).