Well, this is an elitist community in the sense of all of us being very interested in dominion (or mafia). And most people, especially well-known and regular posters, are have at least a decent grasp of the game. Part of this is, that every card has its strengths and weaknesses, and this is something we don't want newbies to miss (or to forget). This is a phenomenon which, I think, evolves especially when people play within a never changing group of people such that innovative utilisation of cards happens very rarely. Typical cards to be misevaluated would be spy or thief, imho. Or it might even take a loooong time to realise how chapel can be used effectively (I remember DXV's comment on this how he just toyed around in one game with trashing his whole hand (coppers and estates) instead of just estates).
So, in other words, comments like 'chapel makes the game boring, as it's just about trashing estates and buying silvers and golds to get provinces' or 'he had 6 spies and destroyed my game with them; well, he had witches as well, so I only had curses and victory cards in my hands' makes me wanting to tell him that there is quite something to learn. And that he'll miss quite some points. And in addition to this, some of the discussion was somehow hampered by misunderstandings.
Anyway, if this helps you, bodybuilder, here's a list of 4 cards from base and intrigue (with some short comments) as you already mentioned 4 cards from prosperity (trade route, bishop, monumen, goons), so this would be fair again. I wouldn't recommend removing any cards, though. ;-)
chancelor (although I like it), spy (although there are sets were I'd prefer it to silver), thief (although it can be a good card in 4 (or 3) player games and especially with gardens), adventurer (which I really buy rarely).
coppersmith (maybe this is not too bad to remove as many new players think this is an absolutely great card), pawn (sure, this can be good, but again, maybe not too bad to removed as used for +1 card, +1 action too often), saboteur (as it belongs to the vicious circle cards (like thief and spy) within play groups: if he bought one, I HAVE to buy one myself to keep things even), scout (considered the weakest card in the game - so far)