[SLuijk]

That is a good way to approach a new code base, generally. On one project I took on they were putting SQL queries into a Javascript variable on the page and sending to the client. The client was then sending a SQL query back via ajax for the server to process. I hope I was not being arrogant calling it/them dumb!

[agumonkey]

Caution, there may be loads of inappropriate decisions, but, it doesn't mean all of them, even the most curious ones are. Highly misleading.

I rebuilt a messy WP blog (i18n hardcoding, dead code, etc) from scracth. Turns out the weirdest thing they did (perverting category/post system using additional metadata) .. they did it because of a weird bug the most important plugin they needed which was not open source anymore. Hit me right in the face.

As someone mentioned earlier, one has to explain everything in the system. The code is only the tip of the iceberg.