It feels like it's really hard to find a non-emotionally charged conversation about Codesmith (particularly from detractors)

I completely agree that more Codesmith conversations should be about the substance. I'm in a bucket where I complain about people not discussing HOW Codemsith works and instead just saying fluffy reasons to go there or fluffy and vague complaints.You need to know HOW it works to know if it's a good fit for you. I'm frequently involved in controversial discussions on here to try to steer them to more concrete discussions and present more sides. If someone posts a vague positive or negative answer, you won't get more details and valuable discussion by yelling at them. The most frequent DMs I get are 'I really respect your consistent and thorough comments' or 'I'm at Codesmith and can't believe how accurate and representative most of your comments are' and that's my goal.