Why wouldn't use simply use the editor you leave open on your desktop for the "small editor" tasks?
What kind of person says "this is a job for nano, while this is a job for emacs?"
What kind of person says "this is a job for nano, while this is a job for emacs?"
Me, I use nano for quick edits over SSH and a different editor/IDE for everything else (which is done locally and pushed, I (incredibly) rarely edit anything on the server.
Depends on what you're used to. Even I as a seasoned die-hard Emacs user who is aware of both TRAMP and emacsclient will still fire up VIM (or vi) for various reasons: because it's what I grew up on, because I can't remember how to use TRAMP to edit that file remotely or as root, or the system is really not up to the task of running emacs.
See also: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Toggle_auto-indenting_for_code_pas...
Or, if your terminal emulator supports "bracketed paste", use something like this: https://github.com/ConradIrwin/vim-bracketed-paste
(Some people even try to use emacs as their entire desktop environment.)