My opinion is subjective and, in the grand scheme, meaningless, but it is what I think. Marco gave me the very fine definition that a "wargame makes me feel like I'm playing a wargame". COIN games do not. They are excellent (most of them) war-themed euros. I own all but one of them. They are not wargames to me.
That's how I feel about them, "war-themed euros". And I like the series and am glad it has been successful.
I'm on the "war-themed euro" side of things and don't particularly like to play them. Which isn't to say they aren't good games, or that people who do play them are somehow unjustified in enjoying them.
Which is the maddening bit I was referencing above. Sure, there are bad games out there, but they're few and far between. Usually, being bad has more to do with bad rules editing or crappy components than anything else. There seem to be more than a few people though, who because they don't like a particular game feel compelled to declare it and everyone who plays it "bad."
Which was the start of this thread. No problem that the reviewer didn't like "Brave Little Belgium" because he doesn't like wargames. I don't like broccoli, but that doesn't mean I need to trash every restaurant that sells it. I don't like the COIN games, but that doesn't mean that GMT is wrong to sell them or for all the people I saw playing them at Origins to be wrong/bad for playing them. I lean heavily toward Kriegsspiel-style games, but I get that they aren't everyone's cup of tea. Say that, not "Kriegsspiel sucks!"
Different strokes and all. I think it's an interesting discussion as to why people like certain games and dislike others. Unfortunately, "I like Battlefront because..." too often turns into "Battlefront sucks and is evil and you suck for liking it!" most places. (That's an example, I haven't played a Battlefront game for years now).