So, you may or may not like validators if you're reading this. Once upon a time, there was no such thing. Back then, people had no things like highlights in Notepad, so they capitalized their words to identify their tags (you'll see much of that on this site.) Validators weren't necessary; people learned what different browsers were capable of, and learned how coding would effect different browsers by trial and error. Some coding would do something special on one browser, and have no effect on the others (which means if you used a certain browser you would get an extra bonus, and if you didn't you'd still view the site fine).
And then validators came around. It became a sudden strange craze. It's not the validators themselves that I dislike. If people who aren't comfortable with how they code want to use them, they can go ahead and use them. Some of us piece coding together like a puzzle, and enjoy seeing the cause and effects.
The problem came when kids started getting high and mighty vibes off validators. "OMG my site sooo validates and urz doesn't that meanz urz must be buggy and mine iz the coolz!1!". They attacked coding that wasn't harmful, and people who didn't depend on validators would know that it was perfectly fine to use those codes. They complained about errors that weren't errors (using an ALT tag is a courtesy, not an error. It's also far too out-dated to consider it an error. If someone was using a browser that can't view images, I doubt they'd be browsing my site that's all about graphic novel games).
Not only did complaints about trivial things arise, but also the mistaken belief that coding that validated was perfect arised. I found 23 syntax errors on one site that 'validated' by glancing at it. I won't say what they were because I'd love for people to go back and learn about coding again; back when people could recognize errors because they knew a bit about C++.
From the way I talk some people might think I'm old, but I'm not. I just have a certain amount of respect for the way things were done, and I don't see using validators as a superior method. It almost breaks my heart when people make these mistakes and I realize they're the next generation of coders; I guess similar to the way people who first wrote binary might wish people knew a little more about how it worked (it's actually kind of interesting).
If validators had remained a simple alterior option, I don't think I would have grown a distaste for them. But they didn't. People made validators the thing. If your site didn't validate, they thought something was wrong even if it wasn't. If the site did validate, I'd be absolutely shocked if they were able to point out the syntax errors there were. I don't want an imperfect program to tell me whether I'm allowed to use certain code or not; I know what it does and I used it because that's what I wanted it to do. Find a typo? That's fine, tell me. But don't tell me that my site is incorrect because there isn't a DOCTYPE (why would I use something I dislike?). All that will do is make me wish more that people still learned about coding as they once did.
Perhaps if things had gone differently I would have used validators myself for suggestions, but they didn't. When I saw all the horrible mistakes caused by them I decided to stay away from it altogether. When I tell a child that his site has syntax errors, and he says that it doesn't because it validates and can't figure out how it's possible for it to have syntax errors (while reciting how much he knew about coding, because even though I was 7 years older we know teenagers know everything), I knew I didn't want to be part of that. It would be like being part of an Anime Club that only knew shows that were dubbed in the states; they'd only have a quarter of the story, if that, and most of it would be the bad parts of the story. And who would want to talk with people who weren't interested in the original thing?
That's why I don't like validators, I won't use validators, and it's fairly pointless to cite anything about validators to me concerning my site. I can assure you; I don't care that my site doesn't validate.