@Ponies from the underground
There will always be haters, for all characters. I think Episode 200 pretty much proved they loved him, and proved Spike was part of Twilight’s family(She said he was in Season 7, this was reaffirmed in Season 8 and confirmed without a doubt in Season 9, now I think people will stop yelling “Spikeabuse” when all the characters are subjected to it)
And yes, Spike is the Seventh member, as Big Jim said “he always was”