Thank you YEF, I appreciate your apology and your willingness to ‘own’ it. I have to agree that, unfortunately, you took the brunt of the blame for this most recent incident, when clearly several others also used the word 'hate'. You apologized and I believe you are sincere, so apology accepted. And I have to agree with FP that it is ridiculous to defend using the term so long as you don’t include an ‘r’. Just like if I say someone is trolling, then I’m calling them a troll. The difference here is that ‘trolling’ is specifically against the board’s Terms of Service, so if someone is displaying those characteristics, then it needs to be called out for what it is; whereas, it isn’t productive or respectful to use name-calling as a general rule and take the chance of offending others. As Soda said, the better option is to be respectful and not offend. If you truly don’t want to offend others, then before you hit the ‘Submit Reply’ button, think about what you are writing. If in doubt, then don’t post it.
As far as the varying degrees of opinion, that is true on both sides of this issue. If there are those that are cynical and negative about every aspect, there are just as many on the other side that cannot accept any criticism of the band whatsoever. One thing we all have to remember is that it takes two sides to keep this debate going. Neither side is all right or all wrong. If you are here, you are contributing. If you want no part of this, then opt out. If you want to participate, then stop complaining, do not troll, be respectful, and as UTW said recognize your fellow members “as individuals with opinions that fall somewhere on the scale between strongly for and strongly against but with whom we share a love of the music”.