  We observe that if we are interested primarily in degeneration arguments,
there is a weaker notion of (semi)stability for vector bundles on reducible
curves, which is sufficient for many applications, and does not depend on a
choice of polarization. We introduce and explore the basic properties of this
alternate notion of (semi)stability. In a complementary direction, we record a
proof of the existence of semistable extensions of vector bundles in suitable
degenerations.
