I received personal mail on this issue and would like to share the information
with the public, I don't think the original author would mind if I post it here,
since I need to publicly comment on this, too (see just below the original message).

--- snip ---
From: rblackeagle@openoffice.org

The behavior you mention as a problem is common to most word processors.  I have
had some problems with MS Word moving entire footnotes two or three pages away
when they got too big.  With OOo, I don't have that problem,but I do have to
consider the effects of an excessively long footnote.

The problem you mention suggests a solution, and that would be to permit split
footnotes at the user's option.  Once the footnote messed up the layout, I would
like to have the option to remove a line of text to get my layout back and be
able to right-click and have the option to continue the footnote on the next
page rather than mess up my layout.  

Alternatively, as you suggest, the layout would be considered sacrosanct by the
footnote frame so it would automatically become a continuing footnote.  The
problem with that is seen in the situation where the footnote is the last page
of a section and now the continuation is on the first page of the next section
-- something likely NOT wanted.

What I have seen in some works is a blank page with the footnote continued on
the blank page for the last situation.

As I look over the options, I prefer the one where footnotes cannot change a
basic layout but automatically extend to continuing footnotes on a blank page or
column if a new section immediately follows the column or page that contains the
footnote.  For publishers, this option competes with the one where the footnote
is on one page and the text continues on an additional column or page.
---snip---

Yes, the behaviour you mention is common to nearly all word-processing or
markup-processing (including TeX, I think) products out there. But that does not
imply that OpenOffice.org must stick to what has been made and assumed in the
past, if it would mean a major (I presume) improvement in that area. 

I personally like the idea of footnotes not breaking up layout in the first
place. And the option of having another, entire page being inserted before a new
section/chapter starts, is, as you already have stated, a very common way to do
things. 

So perhaps, we could settle on this:

Allow footnotes to extend as long as there is vertical space being left, without
interfering with the current layout (no page/column breaks for the body text)
and instead continue with the next column or page, even if that would mean
another page break being inserted before a new chapter / section begins.

Perhaps there others, who would like to comment on this, and when they are from
the field of publishing even more so. I (we) would appreciate your comments very
much.

You're right, I have no objections.  I would love to see this resolved.  It
would be one way OOo would be better than the competition.

Reassigned to MRU

Carsten, 
at the moment I cannot really follow your description. Could you please attach a
document which shows the problem? You can also send the document directly
(mru@openoffice.org) for the case it contains confidential data. Feel free to
re-open the issue when you've done.
Thanks for supporting us!

I will post an example document as soon as I get the time
and will post it ASAP.

Regards,
Carsten

Closed, because no response for long time.