I've always felt the term was neutral. You could put a user on a pedestal, or condescend to them. In any case, I don't think using "customer" as a replacement

I've always felt the term was neutral. You could put a user on a pedestal, or condescend to them. In any case, I don't think using "customer" as a replacement is necessarily enlightened or inspired. There's got to be a more creative term. But then, that might just give rise to another esoteric buzzword, and I'd rather not have that either. I'm just going to stick with "user".