A year ago I would have agreed with you. That's why I ran a big Spike fanfic website. The problem is that ME didn't just drop the ball with the story, they ruined the character. To me (and no offense to those who still like him) Spike is an irritating, oafish buffoon. He's a parody of all the most blatant clichés of Spike's image without any of the elements that made him real and meaningful.

It seems almost obscene to have these stunningly talented fanfiction writers devoting all this attention to a character who simply isn't worth it. It makes me question what I ever liked about the character to begin with--he seemed so complex and fascinating, but maybe we were all just imaginging that--projecting, wishful thinking. 'Cause the guy on AtS this year is just a dull one-dimensional idiot. It's hard to imagine that he could have ever had qualities that I once found fascinating. I mean, I used to read fics where Spike had all these deep qualities under the surface, and that seemed perfectly plausible. Now? Anything other than getting drunk, playing video games, and getting into fights seems out of character. And when I remind myself that James Marsters used to be able to act ... well, based on this season of AtS that too is pretty hard to imagine.

(I hope it's clear that no offense is meant to people who still like him. My anger is at ME, not other fans.)