I really agree. Season 8 is fanfiction to me. And fanfiction I stopped reading a long time ago, though I have kept up with the basic storyline, and read from twilight reveal on out of morbid curiosity.

So if I like Season 9, if it has pretty pictures of Spike, I might enjoy that, but it won't be canon to me, because I will never accept season 8.

And I agree it's almost impossible to enjoy Spangel fic right now, but hopefully I'll get that back since I did the Spuffy.