The instinctive wish of an author to "own" his article is counterproductive in this case. It is the best to get rid of this emotional bond by editing articles whenever it seems necessary and improves the output. Though there is one important exception: Comments by certain people - especially signed ones - should not be changed without stating it clearly. It is okay to correct spelling or grammar mistakes, but to edit the content is comparable to falsifying a citation.
Okay, this is for the disbelievers: In case somebody wrote a senseless, humoristicly meant or really idiotic article, do not care about his or her feelings. Correct the article or (if this would be a complete waste of time) replace it by a new one (and degrade the deleted nonsense towards Flexikon: Bad Jokes and other deleted nonsense or transfer it to the discussion page).
By now we might have convinced you to be brave. Do you maybe want to now how to edit articles?
