the first, because the article is largely the same,
Same case here. Obviously I poorly worded my original statement. The only difference here is that while those old changes were universal, I don't actually think we SHOULD remove every single lolFoundation instance, or every instance of expungement in containment procedures (while a rating module for every article is a good thing).
and the second, because these standards are imposed BEFORE the article is posted.
That simply isn't the case if you look at article history - and I have. Also, remember the Mass Edit? Just to pick out one really obvious example.
But to rewrite somebody else's work without explicit permission? I don't like it.
I agree with you to a large extent. I don't see this as rewriting. Just small tweaks. A sentence here, a single word there.
This might sound more sweeping than it really is because I have a better, recent idea of what these tweaks are, because I'm rereading old articles as we speak and I've catalogued some of these before (as have other users) for future reference.
But…
Frankly, I'm uncomfortable 'rescuing' articles in danger of deletion. Save a copy, PM it to the original author's account if they aren't active, sure. But to rewrite somebody else's work without explicit permission? I don't like it.
I strongly disagree with this.
This is where I have to point out: This wiki is fundamentally based on doing things with others' work without their permission. Most of the original articles were imported without permission. And many, many articles since created have benefited from rewrites: become better and more interesting and more inspiring because of rewrites done when the author could not give permission as they have long since vanished.
And people abandon the wiki for all time, all the time.
We aren't a museum. Except for the -ARC section. If we were a museum, we could have stayed on 4chan. And even on 4chan, people would change things willy-nilly, and the originals would vanish. (Actually 4chan is more like an oral tradition.)
And we would simply not exist as a site if we did everything, everything with explicit author permission.
I agree author rights should be respected, but that does not mean that we should simply never rewrite or alter abandoned articles. That isn't the kind of site we are, it's not the kind of site we ever have been, and I don't think it's the kind of site we should be.
