At the time, I was super-excited by the Post-Crisis world (even tho I didn't much like bumping Superman and Wonder Woman out of their iconic roles in the DCU), and Byrne's and several of the Superman runs between Crisis and Return of Superman are among my favorites.
Over time, however, I've came to feel that it was a colossal error. I suppose the mess made of Hawkman and Wonder Girl are what began to turn me around, along with a realization of how Perez' transformation of the Amazons from a sophisticated civilization to a time-frozen tribe of divine pawns contrasted with some of WW's original core themes. It stripped DC of some of its heritage and grandeur, and it was something of a surrender. As others have said, it was a desperate effort to chase Marvel, rather than just hire the talent that they did, and be their own thing.
To your point tho, I'll say two things in DC's defense:
- They were facing a problem of having handcuffed their characters to a specific point in time (the JSA and All-Star's WWII history), and just how old that made everybody was getting hard to explain.
- The vast majority of what DC jettisoned in Crisis were properties they couldn't really do anything with at the time (i.e. Ra-man).
I think if I had an opportunity to voice an opinion at the critical moment, I'd suggest they take one of two options.
- Leave it alone, and just don't let anybody write anything you don't want as part of your continuity.
- Keep your multiverse, and launch a new Earth-0 continuity, from scratch, and start treating Earth-1 the way you initially treated Earth-2, as a place where the adventures are largely in the past.
Hawkman and Donna Troy would like a word...