I've never had a paper rejected from a conference, and I've seen some pretty shitty ones at conferences. I think this statement is pretty field-specific. That

I've never had a paper rejected from a conference, and I've seen some pretty shitty ones at conferences. I think this statement is pretty field-specific. That said, in the CS and EE fields at least, the use of 10-12 referees for a short, dense conference paper is a really good idea. It would appear that this works primarily because of... drum roll ...the social norms and incentives in place within these specific fields.