So just to be clear, I was not saying it is objectively good. No piece of media is objectively good. Qualitative goodness is an inherently subjective matter.

As I said, in my very first reply in this chain, whether or not you find it good is entirely a matter of taste. OP had stated that it is not good, which is fine if that is their opinion. But they did so in a way that implies disbelief that others feel differently. That the people defending a site that they hold special due to their fandom are wrong, not because it is a fictional character who fictionally died on a specific spot (as I feel), but because it is wrong to like the story at all.

Again, OP is absolutely free to feel about the story anyway that they want, as is anyone else. But they are not objectively right in that opinion, and their incredulity that other disagree with them is silly as it is incredibly, famously, popular. The popularity of the franchise, in itself, does objectively indicate that a lot of people do feel very differently from them about the franchise. Again, that does not mean that it is objectively good. That means that, objectively, many people think that it is good. Goodness is a subjective qualitative judgement. Popularity is a more quantitative measure of the relative number of people who have judged something to be good. And gross financial success is an objective metric of that Popularity.

Now, as for my opinion on the series, I grew up reading the books. In fact, they were the first chapter books I ever brought myself to actually read of my own volition. As such, I have a fair amount of nostalgia for them. Given I was a child, and as a child, I enjoyed them greatly, I really think it is silly to claim that they are “not even good children’s books”. I enjoyed the messaging about selflessness and heroism. I enjoyed the idea of flying around on a broom a lot. I enjoyed seeing a kid who had grown up with absolutely nothing and told he was nothing overcome that to find out that he was special and had something that others would appreciate.

As an adult, I do find some of the elements a bit distasteful. Most of the things about the House Elves are super problematic (though, Dobby is the least problematic example of them). The race-coded stuff, especially the goblins, is concerning now that I can recognize those things. I do think some of the concern about character names for non-white characters, like Cho Chang, is a bit overblown, but I’ll grant people their feelings over it. Narratively, some of the character decisions are a bit contrived or full-on stupid sometimes. Don’t get me started on the entire climax of the 5th book. And the rules or lack there of around the soft magic system leaves some character choices making no sense.

Then there is the vile bitch author herself who has long since surpassed the retchedness of her Umbridge character. It certainly leaves a disgusting taint on the IP. And I do not begrudge anyone from wanting nothing to do with the property since the revelations as a bigot. I certainly won’t ever provide her another dime in my life.

But I am unable to pretend that the books were bad, that they weren’t formative in my childhood, that they don’t still mean something to me and that I don’t enjoy them overall. As far as I see it, the themes of those books, that people of all sorts are good, that everyone deserves respect, that authority doesn’t deserve respect in itself, that doing good is more important than selling a good image, that bravery and friendship are virtues, that racist pricks can get fucked, that women are as, or often more, smart, brave, talented, and capable as men, that we can honor our dead by carrying on the lessons they taught us and the sacrifices they made for us… they supersede whatever stupid shit that billionaire asshole says these days. They are beyond her.

Everyone is welcome to their opinion. You can think what you want of me too. That’s how I feel.