I would’ve rather we gotten something about who he was than nothing at all. The Emperor and Snoke aren’t really comparable because the Emperor was the villain of a standalone story. We didn’t need a reason for him to be there because he was the Status Quo. Snoke is the entire reason this sequel trilogy happened in the first place, and there is a very large gap between Episodes 6 and 7 that is unexplained.
The problem wasn’t that Rey’s parents were nobodies, it’s that they weren’t even nobodies. If Rey met her parents and they were characters who we never met before that would be fine. You could still do something interesting with that. Hell, I’d be fine if they never brought them up at all, because at least then it could be left to the imiagination. With Kylo Ren brushing off Rey’s parents as nothing they’ve killed any potential that plot point could have.