"Where a normal review would often contain a handful of comments and suggestions, he would regularly end up in the hundreds" geeze. This is either a ridiculous

"Where a normal review would often contain a handful of comments and suggestions, he would regularly end up in the hundreds" geeze. This is either a ridiculous hyperbole or telling of a more deep-seated problem. You should not regularly be posting changes that have room for hundreds of comments, and if you do post a change that massive, it should not be considered normal to only elicit a "handful" of comments/suggestions. I work in a company with a strong code review culture. When I'm less confident in the correctness of what I'm doing, I'll ask for a review from someone who I know will use a fine-toothed comb. This necessarily means dealing with what seems like personal preference, but that's a small price to pay for added assuredness you're doing the right thing. Some reviewers pretty much just rubber stamp your work. That can be useful if I'm highly comfortable with the code I'm working with, but overall I don't think that is a positive or makes them less of a jerk. If anything, not taking the time to provide meaningful feedback is the jerk move.