Why all the first-person hate?

Lately, because the IT department here at work is completely lame and I still don't have a functioning version of CS3 on my Mac, thus forcing me to spend my mornings surfing the Net because I have nothing else to do (yeah, OK, I could be writing, but I think between the cancer-diagnosis and impending surgery for my father, rat-chewed A/C ducting [which means even though it's getting hot here, I can't run the air conditioning], the dead garbage disposal, the mold growing in my basement, the plumbing to the apartment over the garage that still hasn't been fixed, the leaking radiator on my car, and attempting to prepare for a party this weekend, my concentration is sort of shot to hell, ya know?), I have been hanging out on the AAR (All About Romance) boards. And one thing I've seen crop up enough times to trip my WTF sensors is people saying they won't read a book if it's in first person, or, maybe, grudgingly saying they'll try something by an author they like "even though it's written in first person."

Um...what?

I happen to love first person. Some of my favorite books in the world are written in first person. I grew up reading tons of stuff written (well) in first person. So why do so many people have such an aversion to that particular p.o.v.? Is it that they're uncomfortable being in just one character's head through an entire story? (Personally, I'd much rather have a tight first person than the head-hopping I've seen in some of the stuff I've had to edit.) Do they like to project their own psyche onto the lead character and have a harder time doing so if a book is written in first person?

Maybe I'm feeling defensive because the book I'm writing now is in first person, but I do find this whole thing rather perplexing.