I don't think anyone really "hates" Richard...he's not a big enough character.
Remember when Ben, John, and Hugo are at the Pit and Hugo says something about Ben killing all the Dharma people and Ben says he didn't kill them...it was their leader's decision? I've always maintained that someone else was behind the mass killing at New Otherton and now I'm pretty sure it was Charles. Frankly, he's a slimier character then Ben IMO.
I'll be honest, if Michael Emerson wasn't playing Ben...I probably would have stopped watching this show a looooooooooooooooong time ago. He's an enormously talented actor and frankly I think he's keeping LOST alive because like you said, Fenny, people love to hate him. Its BS that he's lost 2 years in a row at the Emmys...he deserves to be recognized for his portrayal of Ben Linus.
Major K
"He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a Prince." George Graham Vest
"We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us." - Maurice Maeterlinck