This needs way more contrast, it's really hard to read on my monitor.

I love the writing style, something about it makes it very unique and unusual.

Glad to know you have nothing to hide. What's your salary, employer and street address?

This one by Imperial Boy

An approximation of how I usually look in real life.

If all people actually preferred McDonald's 1) in every situation 2) all the time and 3) other meals would be equally inexpensive, then yes, chefs should only cook McDonald's style hamburgers.

As a customer, I buy meals that I like, not meals that the chef likes.

Linux but I'm not a professional designer.

Apples an oranges. The whole point of a logo is to create certain feelings in people who look at the logo. So it makes complete sense to ask whether people like it. A logo that professional designers love but other people go "meh :/" is not a good logo. Should chefs only ask other chefs whether they like their meals?

The biggest problem isn't the quality of the work produced, but the trivialization of the design process.

In other words, designers hate the Mayer's redesign blogpost because it hurts their egos.

This is not enough, we need even more hateful articles about how Marissa Mayer completely and totally fucked up with the logo.

"What do these geniuses really need to achieve in a few days that less talented professionals need months for?"

Yes, good logo can be made in days, even hours. And an agency can spend months designing a shitty logo costing millions.

"We can’t all be Steve Jobs. We can’t all be masters of product and marketing AND design."

Steve Jobs was neither master of marketing nor design. (And "product" is not even a discipline.)