The funny thing is that if this were about the IRS, no one would think twice. Why? Because they do not accept things done incorrectly. Now this is a generalization... but from the inside I can tell you we get non-stop garbage from applicants/attorneys. No matter how clear the office makes things, no matter how many times an applicant sends in things done incorrectly and are corrected by the examiner, they still continue to do it. This wastes time, energy, and resources. Why do we have to do an attorney's job for them? (and actually that brings up another point... they pass off a lot of their work to assistants, clerks, and admin staff who screw it but between them and us) If it were up to me, I would automatically reject any application that does not meet proper application filing criteria the first time. On the flip side, I would make those criteria as clear as day and published online not more than one level deep off the main page.
Now, I will also say this: before anyone here can bash the PTO, you need to have worked here, because only then can you understand how things really are. A majority of us here work very hard, care about doing a good job, and want to help make the system work. The fact is that it is hard to do this job *truly* well, and keep up morale when we fight many of the things we do on a daily basis. The list is huge, and I won't go into it here... but trust me, for 99% of it, it is not the examiners who muck up the works.