I think you only share a minority view on here. To me, it's impossible to figure out how everyone views the Prequels. The box office can't tell you that. The online community can't really tell you that either. At best, it's a guess what everyone thinks of the Prequels. You can make certain conclusions from media reviews and reviews from the online community, but you juxtapose that with the box office and then what are you left with? It's the same with the DVD sales and merchandising. The Prequel Trilogy cleaned house in merchandising from '99 to '06.
Clearly, the Originals will always be number one to a certain generation. That's not going to change. But, a new generation will see it differently than us. Who's more right?
With the addition of the Prequels, Lucas has created a generational gap in his Saga. I personally feel that that was going to inevitable anyway.