Hey, did I miss a memo? Is there a rift between soulless Spike/Buffy fans and souled Spike/Buffy fans?

Okay, that phrasing makes it sound like the fans, themselves, are soulless. Y'all know what I mean.

I was surprised to see a couple posts about it (older posts by internet time, but I'm slow sometimes). I mean, are we gonna have to bring out the all-penguin Spuffy AUs to unite the ship again? Cause we can.

I guess I haven't noticed any rift (Putting aside the history of the ship where I know that was a deal). I know that people have their own personal interpretations of canon and fanfic preferences, and that the two may or may not correlate with each other. Like, I don't think Spuffy is particularly feasible in canon while Spike is soulless, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading fanfic with such a scenario. Likewise, I think Spuffy in S4 is such a long-shot as to be laughable in canon (as it was in Something Blue), but I adore S4 Spuffy fanfic.

So if there's a rift, can I stand in the middle? Anybody else enjoy fanfic about something that they don't grok in canon? Do fanfic preferences always align with canon interpretations? What type of penguins would Buffy and Spike be, anyway? Answers, people!