[brlewis]

It would have to work like this:

(1) You send a $100.00 deposit in advance of your application.

(2) YC ticks off boxes next to a stock set of sentences that describe their impressions based on your application.

(3) If 3 months go by and you haven't contacted them to argue about it, you get your deposit back.

Otherwise they would have no way of dealing with the torrent of two-way conversations that would ensue. They're evaluating hundreds of applications; they can't deliberate over each one like a jury.