Your comments about the Skyactiv automatic are absolutely true. Later model Hyundai/Kia automatics are equally as good in my opinion.
I equate preferring manual to preferring a certain type of music. There are types of music that I don't like and will probably never like. Other people out there absolutely love those same types of music for reasons that I'll never understand. I'll give them an opportunity to explain why, and I'll even take the time to listen to some of it, and I'll still think they're crazy. It's human nature.
Without going on a huge rant, preference for a manual is either understood or it isn't, and either way is fine. For me personally, if an automatic could add 50hp to any car, shave thousands off of the purchase price of the car, shift exactly the way I like every time, wash and wax the car every day for me, make all FM radio commercials go away, and include a voice-activated feature that would dispense perfectly-cooked strips of bacon from the center HVAC vents, I'd still prefer a manual.
When somebody says it HAS to be a manual, that's because it HAS to be a manual.