Writers may turn overly vivid when creating the "lead" to a story--the introductory section intended to hook the reader. It's considered impolitic and perhaps even unkind to tamper wholesale with the author's lead (mysteriously spelled "lede" by some professional journalists, possibly under the misapprehension that it's shorter than the original). But occasional flights of creativity can turn leads effortful and unintentionally humorous, and a little tweak may prove to be a kindness.

A sprightly description in a lead that crossed our desk recently sounded like either some slapstick menage a trois or a scene from Dav Pilkey's "Adventures of Captain Underpants":

"Our two Best Buys--both MicroBooms--hold their seats against the new number three in town: Race's GigaMonster."

Does this constitute technological harassment? We drabbed down the colorful sentence to read, "Our two previous Best Buys--both MicroBooms--hold their ground as Race Computer's new GigaMonster moves in at number three."