It's not that much of a controversial subject as it is one that you need to do more work to make usefull. Like Nick said, what a lot of newbys do is get the greatest or latest part and throw it on the car, then can't figure out why it's not working the way they wanted.
If it helps, I've been helping the 301 TTA guys with some simple upgrades on their cars as well as teaching them about the Q jets that came on them. One of them has upgraded his turbo and couldn't understand why the car was a dog until it got above 30 MPH. I told him he needed a higher stall converter and he's been a little stuborn about getting one that would work with his set up but he finally understood what I was telling him and is looking for a higher stall converter that will get the car moving better.