I just reviewed a paper for a statistics journal. My review included the following sentences which maybe I should just put in my .signature file:

The main weakness of the paper is that it does not have any examples. This makes it hard to follow. As an applied statistician, I would like an example for two reasons: (a) I would like to know how to apply the method, and (b) it is much easier for me to evaluate the method if I can see it in an example. I would prefer an example that has relevance for the author of the paper (rather than a reanalysis of a “classic” dataset), but that is just my taste.

Lest you think I’m a grouch, let me add that I liked the paper and recommended acceptance. (Also, I know that I do not always follow my own rules, having analyzed the 8 schools example to death and having even on occasion reanalyzed data from Snedecor and Cochran’s classic book.)