Which is good thing, but trying to write about Buffy's story and BtVS as a whole without mentioning Spike - or S6 - or anything that could possibly, ever ever offend or upset anyone? MAJOR challenge.

I used to be like that. Then I quit caring about offending people. :P Eventually you just get tired of the same old arguments, usually with the same old people. I say almost because it's unfair to hate a character or ship because of parts of their fanbase. I was really starting to dislike Spike for awhile because of some fans, but the fans were the problem, not the character. I just couldn't (and still can't) get my head around what some think the show was actually trying to say.*

I could never get into B/S/A because I just don't ever see Angel or Spike settling for something like that, nor do I really see Buffy settling either.

*This goes back to my one post about writers interacting with fans. Truth is, I don't think we get the AR without that S5-S6 writer/fan sniping. Writers were saying one thing, fans were arguing another. The writers swung the sledgehammer to prove their point. I know the official explanation is they needed it to happen for the soul quest, but I just don't buy it. You don't go that far for something like that.