Geras on Copyeditors (revised)
I do not generally [consider deleting, or move to beginning of sentence] hold people in contempt
because offor their profession,theirjob**,** ortheircalling. But copyeditorsediting! That is something [Make consistent with either ’editors’ or ’editing’ in previous two sentences.] different. Not as bad, Iwillgrant, as war criminals or child molesters, they nevertheless belong in one of the very lowest categories of human intelligence**,** and indeed morality. You will [consider ‘may’] object that copy editors perform a most useful and necessary function, turningwhat isoftenill-formed and error-strewn text into something more presentable. This, too, I will grant. However,itthere is no excuse for whatcopy editorsthey [referent is clear] also do - which is to [run-on; consider breaking into two sentences] interfere with people’s painfully-crafted stuff [lazy choice of word] when there is no reason whatever for doing so, other than some quirk in the ^mind of the particular copy-editoringmind which isat work.
[More context here.]