Bl*#§dy editors...

[Elvee]

Hi friends,

I would like your opinion on this one:
I have written an article for a magazine, and once again, it has been edited/rewritten before publication; I have nothing against the principle of correcting, editing or rewriting, quite the contrary in fact: as english is not my mother tongue, I appreciate any stylistic improvement to my work. But most of the times, I'm left frustrated, with the impression my poor article has been wrecked by over-zealous editors.
Off course, I am certainly not the most impartial person to judge this, and perhaps I'm oversensitive and biased in favor of my own work.
I have attached the original version for you to compare with the "improved" version, here:
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6459060...dustryid=44217
What do you think? Am I justified in my grievances, or is my skin too thin?
I would especially appreciate the opinion of native english speakers.
LV

[Elvee]

Here is also a picture that has been removed from the published version.

[Conrad Hoffman]

I've written for a variety of magazines, and IMO, that's what editors do. They generally know best how to style things for their particular mag, but as someone wanting to use the info, I'd rather have the original and the waveform. You shouldn't spend another two seconds worrying about this, but should be busy writing your next article. Some will be edited heavily, some not at all. That's life. BTW, I just use my old boat anchor Tek 545B scope with a diode recovery plug-in. Ancient, but cost next to nothing and gets the job done. The plug-in is probably hard to find though.

[DCPreamp]

I wouldn’t worry about the editing your article took and feel privileged to be published. I honestly like the neutral-voice of the published article and the cleaned-up grammar. Not to impugn your work, simply your use of colons and semi-colons seems excessive and simpler, more concise sentences (like the published version) convey the complex subject better.

One only needs to read poorly written or haphazardly compiled magazines from varied authors to gather an appreciation for clean, direct editing. It not only helps convey the original message of the author, but helps to keep the reader, well, reading. After reading a magazine that seems to have a personality disorder, and having to reread and rethink each article to fully grasp what the author was trying to convey, will you then appreciate a magazine that has one voice throughout. This is especially true with more complex subjects such as electronics and engineering which can swing from very passionate to painfully and unreadably dry.

I’d toughen-up the skin and try to learn from the experience. I’d say this is especially true for a magazine like EDN with its long history, industry clout, and large reader base. Plus, I’ll bet virtually everything submitted for publishing gets edited somewhat unless it’s a whitepaper from Motorola or Samsung or paid advertising. Do you think some Ph.D.’d Engineer from Texas Instruments gets in a huff when their paper gets hacked up? Just don’t lose your passion for the subject and the drive to pass it to others. Nice paper, by the way.

Paul