> I've seen "the best programmers" adopt tools and patterns that cannot survive their departure because they are too complicated and too specialized for anyone else to own.

That was not the kind of developer I was thinking about.

> But as I've become an advanced programmer, some of my opinions have become much stronger

I don't mind strong opinions at all. What I mind is extremism, and how terms like antipattern and code smell contributes to it.

You called the singleton pattern you described a "pretty much 100% bad pattern", then went on to explain your experience and opinion in a humble way. I think that's a great example of a strong opinion which was not "extreme".