Higher resolution edits should be allowed

People always love higher resolution pictures, there are even tags for it
 
Waifu 2x allows you to make higher res versions, and the quality is either identical or near identical
 
I don’t see any reason to delete pictures that are edited to be higher resolution
 
Look at this and tell me with a straight face that it looks bad
 
http://imgur.com/a/y3HQ8

the issue is that the quality is identical, not improved, nullifying the advantage of a higher resolution.

If they really want a higher resolution image so badly, they can do it themselves if it’s so easy like you say.

Here’s the thing.  
These “higher resolution” edits aren’t really higher resolution.  
You’re taking smaller pictures and artificially increasing the resolution, which stretches the pictures. As a result, they come out looking worse, because they weren’t made with the higher resolution in mind.

Regardless of how good an upscalling program like Waifu2x is, there’s always a loss of quality when an image is upscaled. Depending on how the upscaling process works, images will either be pixelated, or the program will have to guess what each pixel is supposed to be, which can lead to some distortion.
 
We always prefer to have the image as it was originally posted by the artist. The original image, in it’s original resolution, is always going to be the best quality possible.

@Joey  
I’m going to disagree, because I have upscaled some pictures with waifu2x and gotten equally, if not better looking pictures out of it especially if the original image was slightly too small to fap to.  
Also jpeg-removal algorithms seem pretty good at “improving” image quality.

Besides, allowing upscales would also end up in confusing situations when it comes to merges: because i did inadvertently merge a orginal image into a upscale before, and i can imagine that others could possibly do the same, even if it is just reporting.

@Mildgyth  
Yeah, I wasn’t saying we should allow up-scales and merge into them, because yes, original work by artists currently - and should continue to - take priority.
 
Just, uh, tell people to share in comments or something? or link in description, just mention it’s an artificial upscale and to not post it to derpi.

This is how I see it.
 
The quality of digital artwork is never infinite. I’m not surprised you can do upscales these days that look very very good and (almost) reach the original’s quality.
 
But that doesn’t matter. Quality was never the main issue for me when it comes to upscales.  
The main issue for me is that artists often have good reasons to limit the resolution of their uploads. Sometimes to prevent people from using it for unpermitted prints or pillows etc, sometimes because they wanna reward patreons or commissioners with a larger resolution file.  
And we have to respect that.
 
That’s why I’m strictly against upscales, no matter how good they are.

@zippysqrl
 
That’s what we usually do already. Also, i know you weren’t saying that, but i’m sure somebody would make this mistake.

@Joey  

 
I am slightly triggered by your use of the words always and loss of quality, because if I doubled the horizontal resolution, but left the vertical resolution alone, and I used a really simple algorithm that just copies original pixel values, from a technical point of view I’m not losing any quality (assuming quality is equal to information is this context), you’re just storing the same information in a less efficient way. However, no matter the algorithm, it can never add information that wasn’t there in the first place.
 
Upscaling algorithms are there to make things look more pleasing to the eye, and some results are pretty good, but it’s still the same as making a “60 FPS 4K YOUTUBE ULTRA HD” version of something that wasn’t 60FPS 4K in the first place.
 
^{background: I have done a university-level masters degree that dealt with, among other things, image and video processing}
 

 
Pretty much this. It’s fine if you use whatever tools/algorithms you desire for your own personal use, but they don’t belong being uploaded here on the booru.

ADDENDUM:  
@sf23asf  
Oh good, you managed to blow up the jpeg compression (which was barely noticeable in the original image) in some places (eg the “Ponut Holes” book in the lower left, around the signature). In the original I had to actually zoom in to see the compression artefacts, in your version I can see it without zooming in.  
Even if it’s not a loss of information, at the same time it also doesn’t add any, thus defeating the purpose of having it here.

test stuff doesnt seem to be going through

htt p://i.img ur.com/gD8HgeB.png  
“Resolution doesn’t matter guys”
 
!http ://i.imgur .com/YtJtuXU.jpg!  
Is my reaction to all porn pics below 2500ish pixels given my 1920x1080 22inch (24?) monitor
 
 
(why do I have to break the imgur links)

@Background Pony #35C6  
You don’t have to break the links.  
Also, what we’ve said is final, no upscales, end of story.

@Mike  
no upscales uploaded directly to derpibooru*

@zippysqrl  
Ya.

But what about upscales of memes or things like this? Or pages from official comics (not fanart). I was searching for a high resolution “nature is so facinating” panel and found none, so I upscaled the page from comics and uploaded this: >>1529309 and proposed to replace this >>1255222 (merged) with it.
 
As the smaller one (>>1255222 (merged)) is blurry, somebody probably upscaled it “the old way”, because there is also even smaller version: >>275473 (merged), but has a bit different crop at the bottom.