The Reviewer's Dilemma

Note to self--don't ever, ever take another class where you have to review others' work. If you've never done it, don't. If you have, you know what I'm talking about. You're in a position where, true, your submission may have sucked (at least mildly), but everyone else's did, too. And, the ones reviewing you aren't going to be kind to you. So, you think, why should you be to them? But then you think how nice it would be if we could all just get along, as it were, and maybe they're being nice to you, so why not be nice to them? It's like the Prisoner's Dilemma for refereed research. :-) On the other hand, if you let something slide that really, truly sucks, your instructor will notice and call you on it. And, hoo-buddy, some of these suck. I'd love to detail a few, but I'm too petrified that some Google search by one of the authors on their "pet project" would turn this up. And that's not to say that some of them aren't good--they are. Ummm...but not all of them. Yeesh.