Yeah, I see this the same way. In The Onion in the Varnish, the author notices that it’s confusing that there’s an onion in the varnish, but they don’t immediately stop putting it in. They first investigate to try to find out why it’s there. Chesterton’s Fence doesn’t say you can never remove fences, just that you should know why the fence is there before you do, and the person in the Onion in the Varnish does exactly that.
Yeah, I see this the same way. In The Onion in the Varnish, the author notices that it’s confusing that there’s an onion in the varnish, but they don’t immediately stop putting it in. They first investigate to try to find out why it’s there. Chesterton’s Fence doesn’t say you can never remove fences, just that you should know why the fence is there before you do, and the person in the Onion in the Varnish does exactly that.