So, clearly it's almost always better to do a project from scratch than to fix up someone else's mess. Especially, in my experience, projects involving any kind of coding.

Almost always. Almost.

Because if the document you're working with is 148 pages inside of a proprietary piece of software, is it really?

But?

If there are navigation options on almost every screen, and 80% of those are changing? If some screens are being deleted and others added and others rearranged?

Is it better to just start over and do the weary work of inputting 148 pages of text again, just so you can build the navigation from scratch? Or is it better to take what's in there, even though you'll have to change 30% of the text? Should you tell yourself that tracking down the code and navigation problems that will inevitably arise from such an extensive re-editing will be easier than all that rekeying?

If "all that rekeying" consists of about 100-300 characters per screen, would it really be that much work?

Would I have been better off just getting started with the rekeying instead of sitting here brooding over these things for the past 13 minutes?

(If I get a call saying all of the sinks in the apartment are backed up and overflowing, should I just move to another city and change my name?)