Geeks latched onto the hate-AOL refrain as long ago as 1994. It's a status thing. Personally I always thought it was dumb. They seem to think that it's a sign of low testosterone if you find ease of use attractive.
I say make it as easy as possible. I don't need intimate knowledge of the OS kernel to make myself feel special.
As for the liberal bias on AOL's frontpage, it is egregious and highly irritating. One good thing though. Whenever AOL polls, the loaded liberal answer choice usually gets hammered by the token conservative one.
One of my sisters has tried many other internet providers and ALWAYS goes back to AOL. She, like some others have stated here, gets begged to come back and get free months of service. That said, she REFUSES to learn anything new because of the "ease of use" by AOL.
Personally, I have always disliked AOL. (When I initially got online it was through Prodigy...in the days of Windows 3.0, but I had free accounts for both through work. Prodigy was good back then; AOL stunk from the beginning.) I don't like their silliness (little hearts for favorites and all that other junk) and don't like the way their service is more of a "gated community" than a porthole to the world.