> When people tend to fix code they didn't write nor have the proper context on why the code was written like that, they tend to turn it into a mess

Try fixing your own code 3 months after you wrote it. You end up turning it into a mess too. To think code is something that stays in long term memory somehow is a flawed assumption. We should think of it as language, you say something to someone and a few hours later have 0 memory of how you phrased, the words you used and why you phrased it the way you did. Taking code so seriously ends up sucking the enjoyment out of programming and turns it into a boring office job that you clock in and out so just that you get a paycheck. Let's not create random rules that benefit no one in the long term.

To become a better programmer is a choice people have to make for themselves not dictated by a manager who probably became one because of their mundane prior coding role.