I'm just giving my opinion obviously. I'm sure people hated them, but I don't recall having that sentiment. It was sort of annoying I guess for alts to get into raids, so I can see that. But it also meant that you didn't get fresh players with no experience whatsoever trying to raid. It at least forced them to go through some of the lower content to get used to the game first.
I'm hoping proving ground requirements in WoD will be similar.