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This view needs to be balanced. There's a lot of cases where the previous code didn't abstract the domain well, or the domain has changed (mostly at the application level). Fighting the ill-fitted abstraction is a real chore in this case and quickly lead to complex code.

I'm all for aggressive refactoring if it leads to something simpler.

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It sounds like you are agreeing - that digging into the existing layers can be a good idea that is often neglected or resisted to a fault. That we should treat existing software less like black boxes.

There are caveats here too of course - forking every single thing and excessive NIH syndrome comes with their own costs and risks.

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