I don't think people are trying to say "equalization is bad" as much as "automatic equalization is still pretty unreliable and is probably not the best thing to base your receiver decision on".

M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39
M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1
LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8