Rereading this, I probably should have added a hedge - is it usually better to start from scratch. I do know that there's exceptions to most rules, and this isn't actually a practical problem I'm facing.

Thanks, this is kind of how I thought it should be. I just didn't know if I was missing something, because people on the humour communities trash talk refactoring a lot.

Edit: Wow, Netscape... Sorry to say it, but that post isn't much younger than me. I don't even know a most of these examples. That being said, it was still a great read.