This is so spot on. I'm a publication editor also. Rather than just make changes if there is any ambiguity I leave a private note and open a dialog. It's more time consuming but we have a team of editors who all do it for love. It also gives me visibility which gets me more reads, so it's not entirely unpaid but if I worked it out it's surely less than 1¢/hour.
What galls me more than anything is when I spend time with an author who takes my suggestions then gets a bone up their nose for one reason or another, pulls it, and publishes it, edits and all, in another publication. Then writes a thinly disguised pity post about what a bad guy I am. If you are reading this you know who you are, and if you were one of the many sympathizers with that crybaby you also know who you are.
Editing on a Medium pub is alternately rewarding and thankless. I wouldn’t do it were it not for the vast majority of writers who appreciate the effort and leave such nice loving feedback. Occasionally there is a dud but life is like that.