I always liked him, and never quite understood the hate. I think some of it was that they found his accent annoying, but I think mostly people just found him silly and reckless. Plus, he was billed to be the one who'd get killed off, so maybe there was some detachment for that reason? However, JKR pointed out that he had to carry Harry back to the castle towards the end of DH, so it was full circle, and it made sense.