Here's my title for your piece: "Stuff You Don't Know About Editors Because You Didn't Get a Masters in Journalism." Now I know.

Here's a little real world education when it comes to editors:

I was freelancing for a leading major league website.

in my story, I wrote "Notwithstanding his celebrity, a certain ex-Trump campaign manager snored and farted like the common man." (I wa shis celly in prison.)

When the edit came, the subhead read So-and-so Thinks His Shit Don't Stink But His Old Celly Begs to Differ."

I did respectfully express my disapproval of the distortion of my words to my editor.

His response was about what I expected. "We're hanging our hat on the subhead."

The guy (Trump's campaign manager) was kind fo a douchebag anyway so I figured "Fuck it. He probably won't read this. And even if he does, who cares? it's not like I'll ever see him again."

I took the payday and let it go with barely a whimper.

When I saw the Trumper's book in the stacks at my local library a while later, I took it out to see if the guy had written anything about his brief stay at the prison where I spent a year.

Not only did he include a chapter in his book about the prison - but he authored a paragraph specifically about his displeasure with me for talking smack about him that supposedly wasn't true (though it was). He was not happy with what I'd written and fired back.

If I ever ran into him again I think the first words out of my mouth would be "I never said you thought you shit didn't stink. I just said you were a snorer and a farter."

I've always viewed editors as a necessary evil. Some make your stuff better - some worse. I like the ones who recognize clean copy when they see it and don't feel the need to change anything to legitimize their jobs.