Even changing cycleway/sidewalk:left and :right into a single tag https://osmlab.github.io/osm-deep-history/#/way/447120360 I think it's not helpful, while the two different ways of tagging can be interpreted as the same, for mappers entering data it's best to retain what was mapped.

I'll ask if you can please stop doing these validator edits, then I believe we should just go ahead and mass-revert all of them, then going forward systematic changes should be first discussed with the community.