bipface said:
especially when there's no significant improvement over the original(s) — mixing&matching variations, editing out piercings and background characters, etc. — like, why bother? particularly, why bother sharing it publicly and risk disgruntling the artist

on the other hand i have seen some edits which turn an average, unpolished picture into a masterpiece, so i wouldn't want to ban edits entirely …

I think it's cool in cases where the artist knows and is accepting and where it either adds or removes lewdness.