I am surprised at the amount of negative comments thrown in Mozza's direction.
My guess is that many of Morrissey's most ardent fans mimic him in various ways, and one of his main characteristics is running hot and cold, never tepid, about certain subjects like pop music, politics, and books. He shows passionate, unyielding, devoted support to a few cherished idols and the most scornful vitriol for the many unworthies and crashing bores who are ruining the world. I see a lot of that on this board, so the general air of negativity isn't surprising.
Also, the love that his fans have shown him has been so absolute that any disappointments on his part are bound to have a more negative impact on them. When someone so brilliant comes up short here and there-- and he has, he has-- you feel the sting all the more, whereas with lesser artists you almost assume that they'll have fallow periods, hit bum notes, make bad wardrobe choices, get caught screwing the wrong men's room valet, etc.
These things, plus his childlike but at times horribly nasty demand to be blindly loved, means that his fans, maybe more than other artists, need to vent their frustrations. Morrissey has acknowledged mistakes in the past, but only on a few occasions. Far more often he's given the impression that any criticism of him by fans is a sign of outright disloyalty. This irritates a lot of people who have spent years and untold amounts of cash in what amounts to a love affair only to be disappointed in some way and told, when they raise their voice to question him, that the fault wasn't on Morrissey's side and, anyway, they should quiet down and be grateful for they've got.
In another thread someone was wondering for the upteenth time why Julia was favored above all others. The answer is simple. She's obsessively loyal to him, through thick and thin, and that's the sort of intense, passionate sort of fan he likes: an apostle whose love is blind, absolute, and uncritical. You sort of have to pass a test to win his love; I think all of us (to some degree) would like to think we'd pass that test, yet most of us know we probably wouldn't. Result: anger and resentment.
Having said all that, most of the negativity on this board is the flip-side of love and devotion to him as an artist. Aside from a few crazies and trolls, I think even the angriest sourpuss on the site would still leap in front of a flying bullet for him. Me, I have not shied away from criticizing him in the past, but I would hope it's clear my admiration for his work comes through as well. I'm not sure I'd jump in front of a flying bullet for him-- I wouldn't do that for anyone-- but I'd hurl a sofa cushion in its flight path at the very least. So I hope I wouldn't fall into the "negative" camp. But I will end by saying, as I have many times before, that this site has done many more positive things for him than negative.
EDIT/P.S.: I also think the negativity has something to do with the nature of the Internet. On message boards across the web I think negativity is the dominant mood when the subject brings out such passion in people. As a movie lover, I frequent Aint It Cool News and they have a community of fans ("fanboys") as crazed as any Morrissey audiences. A controversial topic is George Lucas and "Star Wars". Any mention of the SW franchise and nearly all of the most bitter people you could imagine spring from the woodwork to heap their anger on Lucas, partly for his newer films, and partly for his tampering with the originals. Longtime readers of the site's Talk Back section have witnessed this forever. It's become something of a running joke. At some point, I think after the Special Edition was released (the one where Greedo shoots first, not Han Solo), some mewling basket case who hadn't aged beyond 17 complained that by putting in this revision he had spoiled not only the present but the past. "George Lucas raped my childhood!" he wailed, and now this has become a standard line to trot out whenever a movie comes out that doesn't live up to expectations. The SW animosity has become a mode of expression, a language all to itself.
But this is the key point, which the smarter Talk Backers have figured out: no matter how many times George Lucas tampers with the original SW movies, or releases subpar new ones, they will devote hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to buy and support these products. Even the "childhood rape" whiners are still buying 12" figurines, lunchboxes, toys, books, and movie tickets. Recently some of them even paid good money to own special DVDs of unmolested SW movies that were nothing more than cheap transfers from VHS! The Internet has given a big population of fans an outlet to voice their anger and frustration about their favorite artists, but don't be fooled or put off, these people are still fans, first and foremost.