[nradov]

Enforcing consistent compliance with the guidelines starts to matter a lot in large organizations where code lifetimes are measured in decades. When you see a commit that's out of compliance on the details that's usually a sign of deeper, more serious quality problems.

Working on code bases like that isn't for everyone. Some engineers are better suited to less demanding roles where the little details don't matter as much.

[JoeAltmaier]

Sorry, didn't expect that to sound like such an ad-hominem.

How about: the attitude that the code appearance trumps the project goals, is central to the confusion that breaks code review?