false dichotomy. Sometimes people justifiably dislike something for reasons beyond elitism (e.g. Canonical is a for-profit corporation that muddies the waters of FOSS), but it's also not just playful bants.
Also, as with every opinionated topic: do your own research and think critically. Don't hate Ubuntu until you have tried it and have investigated those who maintain it. Don't praise it until you do so either.
I don't care if you come to a different conclusion than me, as long as you didn't just function on the "wisdom of the crowd"
Like most things in life, it's somewhere in the middle. Some of the criticism is factual and valid. Some, a matter of taste (mostly relating to GNOME). Some arises from negative personal experience. Some is just elitist bluster.
The best thing to do is to be rational and critical. Never dismiss an opinion outright without separating the truth from the bullshit.
I think it's just elitism. The worst example is Chris Titus making a video where he explains why you shouldn't use Ubuntu. And then proceeds to make video explaining how it's not actually that bad and he uses it with a different DE.
But now 300K people saw that Ubuntu bad for stupid reasons, from a "reputable" source.