@RumplesGirl, I certainly would not loop you into the “always negative” group. I don’t want to single anyone out but there are people who don’t say anything positive. If you dislike an episode, you at least find a couple things you enjoyed. As you said, even if it’s just a line or a costume. But others will comment on what will be an encouraging or somewhat positive thread, and they’ll say something so over the top negative and extremely general. It’s usually a overarching belief they have had about the show for the past few seasons. It could be something like an anti Hook comment (even when he has a good episode where he is acting nicely and what not). Or it could be anti-Emma comment (like even when she does decide to be the Savior again, people will say things like “That was barely anything, and I’m sure she will go back to Hook’s loving arms and forget who she is again”). And many other examples. Instead of just enjoying the show in the moment, there are a few that only concentrate on negative opinions they have had for years about certain characters and storytelling and they let that spew into episodes that were actually decent. So when I see that, it’s hard not to feel a little annoyed bc when the show does do a decent job with something, they should be praised. But they don’t get any praise from these people. All they do is hate on it bc it isn’t the same show they fell in love with, which makes me wonder why they even watch it. So I guess the answer I would be looking for would be maybe that they are still hoping it can return to the form it used to be. Or maybe like a sick puppy, they just can’t let it go bc of how it used to make them feel. Or maybe they like only one character and want to see their story to the very end (even though these people say they like certain characters, like Emma for instance, they still bash the character all the time). Or maybe they actually like the show a little more than they are letting on. Or maybe they enjoy watching crap tv and enjoy commenting negatively on threads about it. Perhaps watching something they feel is so awful it makes them feel better about their own lives for some reason.
But that was sort of what I was going for. Hate for the sake of hate seems to be running through a few on here and it definitely is discouraging as @Grimmsister said. I completely get talking about the bad parts of a show. I enjoy dumping on the show plenty. The way it handled the LGBTQ episode last year was horrendous. The way they handled the end of season 5A was horrendous. And many many many other things. But I also don’t just get caught up in past things and beliefs. I’ve accepted Neal is gone. I’ve accepted they basically rebooted Rumple’s character. I’ve accepted they have retconned more than I would have liked. Some people just can’t let things go and it seems it’s affecting their current view of the show in such a way that they can’t seem to find anything positive with it anymore. And again, I would not lump @RumplesGirl into this category.