(1) There is no evidence to suggest the reason people didn't like the faux elements was because they weren't they defaults. They could have just been plain inferior. For example, the second faux element approximates a multi-select element, which opens when clicked like a familiar select dropdown, but which also allows users to select multiple choices. Whether this was done with a faux element or a native one, I can't imagine it ever performing better than checkboxes.
(2) One of the biggest differences between the faux elements and the default elements was the fact that, with the default elements, they included black labels above the elements. I know the point of the faux elements was to save space, but I can't help but wonder how they would have fared had they included labels as well.