Coffee Appreciation

Welcome to lfgss. IMO everything you've said checks out, the methodology you recommend is by far the easiest way to produce a consistently good result at home. Starting with an attack on other peoples opinion may not have been the best way to settle in though!

Firstly it would be nice to recognise a difference between dark roast and over roasted. I'm fortunate enough to live in Amsterdam, a city where the specialty coffee scene is still building up so we see a new roaster pop up every few months. Most of these are doing a fairly standard Scandinavian approach. However there are a few that have made a considered decision to roast a bit darker and aim for a different profile. Obviously not starbucks dark, but enough to make a marked difference in flavour, and one that I personally find benefits espresso (though not filter). Most of the roasters are friendly with each other so its not too uncommon to hear that another place is using the same beans, allowing a chance to make a direct comparison between different roasting styles. Interestingly it was those that roast a bit darker who did well in the Dutch roasters championship this year.
As for the comments on a scientific approach ...well, we can't all be sitting round with a refractometer taking measurements, though I would agree to controlling variables where possible.

One thing I'd like to add is that coffee farming is hard, manual labour, and the farmers don't really make much money. Direct trade, which has been one of the better developments to arise from the new wave of smaller roasteries, is making some pretty big waves towards changing this. By cutting out the middleman the farmers can work with the roasters to find the most desirable qualities, allowing them a higher price per kg.