[jzb]

It's not a misspelling, it's jargon. FWIW I prefer it and I think it's valuable to preserve in part because people who dig into it a bit learn about the history of the term and practice of putting publications (especially newspapers) together.

[Maxatar]

You can prefer one spelling over another, absolutely, but it's a bit too strong to say someone using the actual word "lead" is incorrect.

[jzb]

Oh, I wouldn't correct someone for saying "lead" -- or "intro" or any other variant that makes sense. Leed is right out, though.

[keybored]

If the choice is betwixt overloading a morpheme and having two distinct I shall take the latter.

[jameshart]

Right. Saying people outside the industry should feel free to use ‘lead’ instead of ‘lede’ is like saying people outside the tech business should feel free to talk about ‘kilobites’.