As someone who naturally gets into beefs with people (though I don't want to) I see a deeper reason for your frustration--excellence. None of us can say where our desire for icky social recognition begins or ends. Where our goal of writing great stuff begins. For writer or editor, we can, at best, feel good about what we've done 1% of the time.

That's why I might have reacted like you. I want to rise above petty things and succeed in the way you say, which is ultimately judged by the reader, not the writer or editor.

What I believe you're really angry about is the writer implying you edit for personal recognition and took from him/her to make yourself bigger.

Even though I find this piece a bit mean spirited, I can so much relate to what you're expressing. Achieving any kind of excellence has its pains. Why should you (or I in my world) bear them all?