[ahmaman]

> It would be cool if code-reviews were done "anonymously"

Sometimes during code-reviews I find myself wanting to leave 100+ comments. Instead I settle for the few major ones and leave behind most of the minor stuff. I don't want to be perceived as someone who is difficult to work with, so try to pick my battles wisely.

Wonder if anonymous code-review that helps with that.

[hinkley]

Current team has very low code review participation, and I have a few fights I’m putting most of my energy into so I have to let other things go.

But when I was in your shoes, I figured out that some other people would make the same comments I would if they saw them first. The simplest thing to do was to wait or poke them to review the code, then mop up anything they missed. Or I could gamble that they would eventually review it and leave empty space for them to fill.

I think it’s not unlike what the smart kids learn in school: you might know the answer before the question is even out of the teacher’s mouth, but give everybody else in the class a chance before you put your hand up. What’s important is that everyone learn the answer, (and to keep the flow of the lesson, that the question gets answered) not that the answer comes from you.

You can also bury the lede by saying too much. If you complain about eight things how are they to know that #3 is the most problematic?

[vsareto]

I don't know, if coding is art, then the reviews need to be more personal. Anonymous art criticism usually isn't useful. You'll have to filter too much noise to get a signal. If you have an art mentor who knows you and your work, their feedback is much more useful.

An anonymous code review might only be to make sure everything technically works (as securely as possible).

[absurddoctor]

I’ve no experience with anonymous reviews, but have had experience with two approaches that help with the minor comments. One is an agreed upon method of identifying potentially minor comments. We call them ‘nits’, with the understanding that they can be dismissed by the code submitter without any changes. The second is the opposite of anonymous reviews where we meet up and have a ‘live’ review. This makes going over any such bits pretty quick and painless, as it avoids the back and forth that text comments sometimes result in. It has the added benefit of being able to discuss the ‘why’ of things more easily, which is especially useful if the reviewer is less familiar with the code involved.

[onpensionsterm]

I do the nitpicking reviews but, when I review someone for the first time, I specifically point out that I leave nitpicking reviews and don't block approval on most of them.

[layer8]

Writing style and thoroughness etc. of the comments could still be a give-away.