Finally, papers are routed to specific Area Chairs based on expertise and the research community isn't so big once you are in a specific area, so I'll share that I notice both the community members that put extra effort into writing reviews, and those that don't. Thanks you to those that do! (4/4)

Adding this step, where the executive decision maker has the obligation to object to or approve of them, helps align the authority to make the decisions with the responsibility to get good reviews.
Additionally, the Area Chairs see the name of the reviewer (I'm looking at you, reviewer #2). (3/4)

In the past, as an area chair I would end up with a collection of reviews, some of which sucked, and would somewhat throw up my hands and say "these reviews aren't great and I have to decide based on them, but what can I do ... there are too many papers to do anything else". (2/4)

A view of many kites flapping in the wind at the DC kite festival

(Click to enlarge, the rainbow is outside of the narrow default thumbnail)

Welcome! Lots of great people here!