All depends on what you want. From what I guess, roadies hate hybrids cause they tend to be slower, MTB's hate them cause they rarely do well off road.

The hybrid I use does exactly what I want, goes pretty quick, can handle rough roads and rail trails, and lets me use pretty wide tires + fenders. Will it keep up with a road bike? Probably not, but I don't use it to race. Can I plough through the forests? Nah. But neither of those are more important then comfort and utility, so a hybrid it is. I could of gone for a MTB, but at the same price point it'd be pretty useless offroad as well.

Not to say some day I won't buy a road or Mt. bike, but it definitely won't be used near as much day to day, and will need to cost much much more to be good at racing or offroad.