Is that unusual? I can remember feeling like all kinds of suck when she died. I was already pretty attached to the cast--we were all predisposed to get attached, but still, there was heart in those early seasons--and losing one, especially one as expressive as DC's Yar, felt bad. I remember my strongest impressions of her acting were from "The Arsenal of Freedom." I remember wondering what the show would be like now, as if its foundations had been shaken.
The lifespan was ridiculous but everything else with the character was great.
I always thought that it bit off more than it could chew. Before someone says, "Well, isn't the point?" my reply to that is that a judge saying that she is unqualified to sit in judgment over Data -- which is literally what she said -- provides immediate grounds for Maddox to appeal and that failure for him to do so creates in Maddox an unrealistic character. Compared with almost all TNG episodes before it, it was very good, but that's faint praise, as they say.
