I didn't say "take pride in your code because you own it", I said that because you feel some pride in what you've made you feel some sense of investment in it.

I didn't say "take pride in your code because you own it", I said that because you feel some pride in what you've made you feel some sense of investment in it. And I wasn't trying to speak to legal ownership but to the kind of psychological feeling that might explain people getting a bit cranky if you waltz in and rewrite things. That doesn't happen to everybody or in all situations, but I don't think it's that rare. The code I write is corporately owned in the legal sense but I still feel some attachment to it and care about good workmanship.