[mike]

you can also take from another point of view: we are after maximum details and perfection in image quality while nobody but us cares for this ... all depends on your target audience

Assuming nothing is drastically wrong with the photo from a technical standpoint, I'll take an emotionally strong image with a few minor imperfections over a perfect image which doesn't draw me in. 

In fact, over the years I tend do a lot less editing than I used too. Only anal retentive photographers will go out of their way to look for a minor imperfection they can nitpick. I was one at one time. I'm not saying to not go for perfection; au contraire. Perhaps if I were entering a contest I would scrutinize at 500% and remove that?????

When I was first learning and in a photo club a Nat Geo photographer came in to give a talk. Before the talk us club members always sat around and reviewed each others photos. When I was showing my favorites from a recent shoot, she, unknown to me, started looking through the envelope of prints that I wasn't showing. She then commented to me, "you need to have someone else edit your photos..." You see, I was choosing the most technically perfect images that I worked the hardest to get.