Honestly, the inconsistency argument doesn't really move me. It's not that I think you're wrong on the facts - I think you're absolutely right that Spike was inconsistently written (as was most everyone else). But you know, in life, we're all inconsistent. No one acts the same way all the time. Take an ax murderer, for instance - I don't particularly care if he's helping little old ladies across the street or whatever when he isn't killing people.

Or, to take an example that's a bit more on-point, abusive husbands/boyfriends can be very nice, pleasant, even sweet people a great deal of the time. It's what they do the rest of the time that matters. And Spike was consistently abusive toward every woman he had sex and/or a relationship with on the show. Which is why I find the practice of people pairing him with basically anyone to be more than a little creepy.

But then again, I find the whole debate itself interesting, provided no one gets personal about agreeing to disagree.

Yeah, I don't condone personal attacks when discussing fictional characters and the like. But the flip side of that is, if someone likes Spike because the character has a great deal of personal and emotional significance for them, there's probably not much I can say that won't seem like a personal attack. And since there seem to be quite a lot of people like that out there in Buffy fandom (or at least the LJ side of it), I try to avoid talking about him for the most part.