Thankfully, it’s not up to you to determine what is and what is not respect. As our rules clearly state,
I’ve been monitoring this topic closely, and while some people have gotten close to breaking rules, on the whole it has been a fairly civil discussion.
If this topic gets too out of hand, we will deal with it. Otherwise, you need not worry about it. Consider this a first warning, @Saxton.
Very, though you are correct. By the nature of the word, it is impossible to have objective opinions, as objective (defined by Merriam-Webster) means
“expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations.”
The very definition of opinion is personal, as it is
“a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter.”
Thus, the only things that are truly objective are facts. For example, it is an objective fact that spaghetti is a pasta dish typically served with tomato sauce. It is subjective to say, based upon those facts, that it is a good food. Every person has their own unique taste buds. Some will say that the tomato sauce tastes great. Others will say that the tomato sauce tastes awful. Different people interpret the same objective facts differently.
Objectively, Solek is a set released in 2008. It has fragile joints, and is prone to breaking. It has a color scheme of white and gray, with silver pieces here and there. It has a unique mask. It has 14 pieces. Its play function is to attach to Kopaka. Those are all the objective facts that we have regarding Solek.
However, opinions based upon those facts, however, are subjective in their nature. It’s subjective to say that Solek’s color scheme is bland, because not everyone will interpret that fact the same. It’s subjective to say that Solek’s abysmal part count makes it a bad set, because not everyone will agree that a larger part count makes for a better set. It’s not even objective to say that Solek’s bad joints make him an inferior set, because as stated, not everyone takes apart their sets.
Having said all that, this topic is not “Is Solek objectively the worst set?” It is “Why is Solek a hated set?” This deals not with objectivity, but with popular opinion. Many users play with/view their sets in similar ways, and thus have similar views as to what makes a set “good”. Many people enjoy MOCing, so Solek’s mere 14 pieces, while not objectively bad, are popularly a con. Lots of people think that a monochromatic color scheme is boring, and thus Solek is considered popularly a blandly colored set. Pretty much everyone likes taking their sets apart at some point, so fragile joints are popularly negative. These stances are not objective in nature. Despite this, they are the popular opinions of the community, and should be weighed heavily.
tl;dr opinions can’t be objective, but popular stance is important regardless