But a very, very large percentage of the time the reason that conflicts happen in the first place is that one of the devices was offline at the time of an edit.

But a very, very large percentage of the time the reason that conflicts happen in the first place is that one of the devices was offline at the time of an edit. So to say the solution is "tough, you just won't be able to save anyway" - I don't see how that is an improvement.