LaTeX rebuttal

This is my LaTeX template for responding to reviewers. I have extended several macros that I found on stackexchange to allow LaTeX style cross referencing between reviewers points. Here is how it looks:

Note the circle in red which is the reference inserted with the \ref tag.

The source code

rebuttal.zip

% LaTeX rebuttal letter example.
% 2018 fzenke.net
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{lipsum} % to generate some filler text
\usepackage{fullpage}

% import Eq and Section references from the main manuscript where needed
% \usepackage{xr}
% \externaldocument{manuscript}

% package needed for optional arguments
\usepackage{xifthen}
% define counters for reviewers and their points
\newcounter{reviewer}
\setcounter{reviewer}{0}
\newcounter{point}[reviewer]
\setcounter{point}{0}

% This refines the format of how the reviewer/point reference will appear.
\renewcommand{\thepoint}{P\,\thereviewer.\arabic{point}}

% command declarations for reviewer points and our responses
\newcommand{\reviewersection}{\stepcounter{reviewer} \bigskip \hrule
 \section*{Reviewer \thereviewer}}

\newenvironment{point}
 {\refstepcounter{point} \bigskip \noindent {\textbf{Reviewer~Point~\thepoint} } ---\ }
 {\par }

\newcommand{\shortpoint}[1]{\refstepcounter{point} \bigskip \noindent 
 {\textbf{Reviewer~Point~\thepoint} } ---~#1\par }

\newenvironment{reply}
 {\medskip \noindent \begin{sf}\textbf{Reply}:\ }
 {\medskip \end{sf}}

\newcommand{\shortreply}[2][]{\medskip \noindent \begin{sf}\textbf{Reply}:\ #2
 \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{}}{}{ \hfill \footnotesize (#1)}%
 \medskip \end{sf}}

\begin{document}

\section*{Response to the reviewers}
% General intro text goes here
We thank the reviewers for their critical assessment of our work. 
In the following we address their concerns point by point.

% Let's start point-by-point with Reviewer 1
\reviewersection

% Point one description 
\begin{point}
 \lipsum[1]
 \label{pt:foo}
\end{point}

% Our reply
\begin{reply}
 We agree with the reviewer on this important point. This is what we did to
 fix it. 
 \lipsum[2]
\end{reply}

\begin{point}
 Reviewer \thereviewer's second point.
 \label{pt:bar}
\end{point}

\begin{reply}
 And our reply to it.
\end{reply}

\subsection*{Minor}

% Use the short-hand macros for one-liners.
\shortpoint{ Typo in line xy. }
\shortreply{ Fixed.}

% Begin a new reviewer section
\reviewersection

\begin{point}
 This is the first point of Reviewer \thereviewer. With some more words foo
 bar foo bar ...
\end{point}

\begin{reply}
 Our reply to it with reference to one of our points above using the \LaTeX's 
 label/ref system (see also \ref{pt:foo}).
\end{reply}


\end{document}