Automated batch scripts operated on a large scale by high-ranking editors (typically Rank 6) can modify a significant fraction of segments in a given region. When this happens, the previous last-edited-by username, rank, and date are permanently overwritten.

This can be a problem, for four reasons:

1. It gives junior editors pause. As we all know, inelegant or downright wrong constructions are still not hard to find on the Waze maps; but when these constructions show as recently modified by a Rank 6 editor, junior editors wonder if they were intentional, or worse, consider them models to be emulated.

2. It frustrates efforts to track down or assess editing by specific editors. For example, if an uninformed editor has made a number of incorrect edits requiring repair, the salvage effort can involve searching for all segments modified by that editor. A script that destroys modification data renders this salvage technique impossible.

3. It is no longer possible to identify the author of an unusual construction in order to contact him/her and understand why it was designed as it was.

4. When evaluating whether an area needs rework, it is no longer possible to weight the quality of the existing segments by the rank of the editors who last modified them.

Questions:

- Is it possible for a script to preserve last-edited data rather than permanently overwriting it?

- Under what circumstances is that appropriate?

True, once a script has modified a segment, it is not accurate to say it was not modified. However, if as a result of the script a damaged, inelegant, or mysterious construction is now marked as the work of a Rank 6 editor who doesn't actually know anything about it, I would suggest that is even more inaccurate.

Is it not the lesser evil to preserve the original last-edited data when running large-scale batch scripts?