ArcGIS: create features while a definition query applies?

ArcGIS 10.1, trying to add new features to a Shapefile: make it editable; set up an editing template; but the relevant layer refuses to appear in the ‘Create Features’ window. Why?! Well, it seems to be a side-effect of the way that ‘Create Features’ works, explained in an ESRI blog. While editing templates are useful, isn’t this a rather disproportionate level of complication for an everyday operation?