A user suggests to change some old rules. How should I approach this situation?
If a user suggests to change an old rule, they need to prove that the change brings some benefits to the community.
Almost any problem can be solved in several ways with approximately the same effectiveness. When a rule is first introduced, the community typically chooses one of several similar options and then follows it.
From time to time, users may propose changing existing rules or processes to an alternative approach with the same effectiveness. Agreeing to do that results in disputes between users and waste of time without any benefit to the community.
When you see proposals to change existing rules, kindly ask their authors to prove that their proposed approach is significantly superior to the existing one. If it is not, decline it.
This is a fragment of a draft of the book “Lessons Learned While Working On Stack Overflow”. Read the full book on kindle or the paperback version.