"It's used" clearer indicates what is frustrating than "the writer uses", isn't it? It doesn't matter who uses this technique, it may be the writer, or the edit

"It's used" clearer indicates what is frustrating than "the writer uses", isn't it? It doesn't matter who uses this technique, it may be the writer, or the editor, or the censor, or whoever, it will be frustrating in any case. To get this clarity with active voice we need to replace "the writer" with a pronoun, like "someone" or "anyone", but it is just ugly. So to my mind there is no silver bullet, no simple ways to do it right in all cases. It depends.