To each his own, indeed. This just shows why it was stupid for AA to make the change to auto-requested upgrades.
Upgrades should not be auto-requested. Nor should they be free. Those who actually value upgrades and are willing to spend something for them (something in this case can be the old 500-mile "stickers") should have the first crack at those upgrades.
Giving a comp upgrade to a pax who neither wants nor cares about the upgrade harms the person behind him on the list who wants the upgrade and is willing to use a sticker to pay for it.
I love the F seats on the A side of E75 but if I was given a choice between two MCE Y seats to myself or an F seat on the 2-seat side with an occupied seat next to it, I might opt to stay in Y too.