If that's true at all (this article itself is in a TNR variant), then it's only because Times has a small x-height, and it is smaller retaliative to other commo

If that's true at all (this article itself is in a TNR variant), then it's only because Times has a small x-height, and it is smaller retaliative to other common screen fonts at the same point size. This is true for Garamond, too. And Baskerville, and virtually EVER classic serif font before Matthew Carter started designing for screens with Charter and Georgia. TNR is a fantastic font, it's just overused. That can actually be an advantage in many contexts, where you're not trying to be novel, and want your body text to project an orthodox and familiar feeling. I've seen great results with TNR on screens, with just a simple touch of CSS to make letters and line height larger, and the color to be a dark grey rather than pure black. Telling people to "please" boycott a font is more than a bit peremptory.