Being that this is a photo manipulation site I thought it would be good to have an in-depth discussion of something being touched on in endovan's win-celebration thread as well as other threads and entry comments.

I'm referring to the discussion of the general dislike of filters among serious and semi-serious choppers. However I wanted to know if all filters were loathed in general (or principle)?

Seems that some things are just about impossible; or at the very least extremely time consuming; to do without touching a filter. Adding noise layer? That's under the filters menu. And what about adding a blur or Gaussian blur? Aren't those filters? Rendering lighting effects? Or Liquify? Or polar coordinates? etc., etc., etc.?

Seems that there's a difference between a "filter tool" and a "filter plug-in". Filter plug-ins that do something you can manually do better (like making chrome, water, etc.) are lame. But what of the others like I mentioned above. How do you do a uniform blur of the entire image without a Gaussian blur? How do you add a uniform noise without the noise filter? What about Sharpen or Unsharp mask? The vanishing point filter is a very helpful tool in some cases even though you could copy/paste/transform/distort-perspective if you wanted.

So my stance is that SOME of filters are legit tools in the chopper's arsenal. But filters that do lame jobs are crap.

Let's get to discussin'!

That right there is a pretty good analysis. Some of the "filters" are so integral that they are almost as much tools as the things in the standard toolbar. To add noise, should someone be expected to take a single pixel brush and dot their image for a few days? And like you said, there are filters that do things that aren't "basic" functions. The artistic & brush style filters, etc.
The rule of thumb that I use is, if you can use a filter as a tool in making part of your entry better, go for it, but if your image is defined by the filter, it's going to be considered lazy, as it should be.

i use filters for coffee then chop

I use filters.
the one I cannot stand though is the Render Clouds
(unless you're making lightning with it)
There are brushes that do a much better job of helping you create your own clouds.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/123876/out-to-dry.html

I use Lens Flare too but not just to that effect. I always take the flare and modify it in some way shape or form. its never just Filter > Render > Lensflare and call it a day
I use it as a good starting point cause yeah I'm lazy

heres a good example. the glasses reflection on the wall behind Gondork was a lens flare
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/107122/gondork.html

this one has two lens flares one for the headlights and one for the taillight.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/117994/cruisin.html

The only time I use the Flare straight up is when I do my space themes and even then theres at least some level tweaking and color correction.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/117548/the-cactus-system.html

Heres a classic example of good use of Gaussian blur and noise
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/107287/lost-shaker-of-salt.html

All in all I think filters serve a purpose. Use them as they were intended, as tools to help you get to where you want, not just as finishers

Regarding noise... it's weird that it's even there because there is a much more flexible and realistic GRAIN filter in the texturiser set.

Gaussian blur is probably one of the most useful tools in photoshop and I don't think it is "bad" to use it. It's probably the only filter I use on a regular basis.

3rd party Filters/Plugins I use on a daily basis

Andromeda LensDoc
PictureCode Noise Ninja
GrainSurgery Match Grain
Alien Skin Blow Up

Filters were made to make photoshop work more easy... most of the filter work can be created in photoshop manually, it would be time consuming tho. So, why not use filters if we got them?

there's filters, then there's filters,
http://www.alienskin.com/ec-effects-collection.html

It seems that most are put off by the overuse of, or reliance on, a filter. So it seems that most are not opposed to the filters themselves. Well 'cept Rey and the rightful loathing of the flood filter.

I like how btvs put it. If the chop relies on the use of a filter then it's not a chop. I would call that a cop-out.

So this brings me to my next question... Is there any filter/plug-in/tool that you'd like to see created that doesn't exist yet? Or one that you wish worked a bit better (hello flood)?