Lumping together every critic and every criticism to create a boogeyman will drive you crazy if you let it. We’re not a hive mind — people like different things about this 50+-year-old franchise So, no, there will probably never be the consistency of opinion you want. And, yeah, there are some folks who will never like Discovery. But railing about people giving opinions on a Trek discussion forum — especially the people who put in the work to give reasoned opinions — misses the point of a Trek discussion forum.
You can post about this all day, every day, and those least likely to be moved by it are the bad-faith posters. Haters gonna hate. But the people you’re likely to alienate are the more reasonable folks you’re painting with your broad brush. If they were to leave, I don’t think you”d find the forum better for it.
I appreciate that perspective.
Again, I think you've misinterpreted some of what I was trying to say to you (not all of it).
I was really trying to engage you specifically on the topic (an admittedly philosophical one) about whether or not is really "the writers are awful" or if it's "this doesn't appeal to me personally" when someone has a particular dislike of an episode or arc.
I still think there is some criticism that is levied at the production team / writers that has more to do with the individual's personal taste and the writing failing to resonate with them, and not so much about writers being sub-par in crafting a story or characters. There are certainly shortcomings in the writing...but even the most highly regarded Trek has those issues if you hold it up to scrutiny (see
NOTE below before you dismiss this point as a common excuse). Wrath of Khan, Undiscovered Country and First Contact are riddled with inanities, contrivances, and outright idiocy if you hold them up to any level of examination, for example...but because the general story appeals to lots of people, they are considered "good." There are other movies that have similarly crafted stories (and I'd argue some are BETTER crafted stories), but because the basic premise wasn't as appealing to the majority, they are considered "bad." That's really the phenomenon I'm exploring.
NOTE: I think that is also why you see so many people saying "Yeah, but all Trek / past Trek is like that." It's not to make an excuse....it's more to remind people that they've found a way to love past productions, warts and all, and trying to appeal to that past sense a bit, hoping it will right-set expectations a little and help the frustrated person enjoy things a little more.
I've rarely-if-ever blamed the writing as a reason for me not liking something. I've always just resigned myself to the fact that what was presented as a story simply isn't to my liking, and I put that on me...not on the creator. Maybe it's unfair for me to expect others to react the same way. But I'm the guy who
loves lots of Trek that isn't broadly loved (S3 TOS, S1and2 TNG, TMP, TFF, etc) and is somewhat "meh" on Trek that IS broadly loved (TUC, TVH)...so maybe it's that outlier position I come from biasing my views.
It's also, as I've mentioned, a matter of there being definitely/likely a sensitivity to lots of the very toxic negativity in sci-fi fandom these last 7 - 10 years...where people don't just "blame" the creative teams for things they don't like...they outright take it personally and they respond in kind in a very personal and aggressive way with their criticisms (see: JJ Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Kathleen Kennedy, Roberto Orci, Rian Johnson, etc). To your point, it's not fair to paint everyone with a criticism with the same brush (and I don't think I did, but apologize if it came across as such)...but I think the awareness on the other side is that there are definitely some "raw nerves" on this topic, and yes...people are going to react defensively to things they love being attacked.
I think we all, if our intentions are to engage in debate and discussion, maybe just need to keep those things in mind...because it's clear that we're not always coming across / reacting the way we intend.
Then you have to find a way to not let opinions that disagree with yours to spoil your enjoyment of something.
