It's all in the definition

When I am editing a particularly frustrating, badly-written, badly-argued document, my comments can get quite short-tempered, or alternatively bitchy and passive-aggressive (NB employer-types: only under extreme duress, and I am never actually rude. I am a terribly good and constructive editor, really I am). The MOST frustrating thing is when authors don't actually respond to my comments in any meaningful way, or fail to recognise any need for clarification (this is my JOB, damnit, I MIGHT know what I'm talking about). I either have to leave the issue unresolved within the document and feel that that reflects badly on me as an editor, or I have to send it back again in a game of editing ping pong, finding some way to spell out the same question without coming across as either patronising or ignorant.

Mostly I do a lot of swearing, but sometimes these exchanges make me laugh:

- I don’t think this paragraph belongs in the “X” section.
- ITS OK IF WE ADOPT A BROAD DEFINITION OF X.