Primum non nocere

A Columbia University statistics professor is complaining about a copy editor who changed all of his "for example" usages to "e.g." Aside from adherence to a stylebook or to save every possible bit of space, I'm not sure why someone would do that  but I wouldn't knock it on the basis that it's Latin and not English. Not in a scholarly publication.
Any thoughts?
I could do without the "Pinch-hitter syndrome strikes again" snottiness, though. Doesn't really work, either.