I think you have the crux of it... this person has a very long essay explaining why this change makes it more comprehensible to more readers.
This is what an editor should do. What's the problem? Let them spend their time on it if they like, it seems like most times no one even notices the change.
It's not being pedantic if you are doing it to improve real life readability based on real feedback, even if it seems trivial.
