Personally I think there is too much navel-gazing on APs.

can't we just have a simple discussion anymore without being negged...
Nope. People want to express their opinion and use a bat for it. That said, there never was official rules as to how APs are to be used. IMO, it was supposed to identify inappropriate posts, extremely inaccurate information and extremely accurate/informative information.

But theory and reality are often two different things.

I don't think it's worth sweating over.