I missed the original kerfuffle, but at the Ploughshares blog, there's a fascinating post + comment thread on the things editors do(n't) say in response to slush. Most of it's ultimately common sense, but like many other fruitbats writers, sometimes I need to be reminded that

Despite common, underlying assumptions to the contrary, no one is forced to read poetry. Poetry has to make the case for itself, and to total strangers. This is what I try to remember when I sometimes receive puzzling comments on my 350-odd rejections. The editor or reader (who most likely is getting little or no financial recompense) may have just rejected hundreds of poems, and the last horrible one was about Crete, which my poems also references.

- Simeon Berry