How to salvage the quality core of a question over the objections of its author?

Question

Partially related to this Meta Question

I will admit up front that this meta question will seem self serving.

On the main, there is a much maligned question that is appropriately downvoted:

"Were the Framers, Signers, and Founding Fathers Citizens of the United States and if yes by what political means did they become Citizens of the U.S.?"

While there is a good core to the question, it is burdened with a lot of unnecessary portions that are not pertinent to the matter at hand. Efforts to edit the question down to the core led to contention with the author, with heated argument over the importance of the surrounding material. I assume that further edits would result in a pitched back and forth fight through rollbacks.

What is the appropriate method to salvage the question, or should it be discarded as a lost cause?

Answer 1

Efforts to edit the question down to the core led to contention with the author, with heated argument over the importance of the surrounding material.

In this situation, I would abandon the question as a lost cause. Vote-to-close and move on with life. We should not have to wage an edit war with the author to get a decent question. If you find yourself wanting to go down that path, it's time to VTC.

I would think differently about this if the author is open to edits. Even a radical edit supported by the author is fine. But if you want to radically edit against the author's wishes, it is better to step back and consider a VTC.

After the question is closed, you can always ask your own question. Then you control the question content.