Yeah I don't understand the hate either. From what I've seen they:
Preserve pre-war technology
Research new technology
Trade safe technology with outsiders, the NCR and tribals
Keep the military technology for self-defense
And yet a lot of people (including a good friend of mine) act like they're raiders. My friend can't point out any cases where they start fights to seize technology, though. I understand why their attitude would bother some people, but not where they get this reputation for stealing technology.
The one situation I can think of is the NCR-Brotherhood war. The wikis don't provide any canon explanation for why the conflict even started (just references to Van Buren, the game which wasn't made), and I don't remember exactly what was said in New Vegas, but it seems like an unfortunate misunderstanding to me. The expansionist NCR had certainly annexed all the land around the west-coast bunkers. Then I seem to recall they had a rather crazy leader who declared war on the NCR out of paranoia, possibly over the Enclave technology they'd captured together from the oil rig? I don't really remember and I can't find information about it.
That was an inevitable conflict, though. The NCR had the brotherhood surrounded, and with their expansionist tendencies I'm sure they were pressuring the Brotherhood to give up weapon technology. It was a tense situation that I think just got mishandled, and I have trouble believing the isolationist Brotherhood was the aggressor. Maybe someone else has a better recollection of what was said about that conflict.
On further wiki examination, the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood stayed out of the war until the NCR attacked and overwhelmed them at Helios 1. Practically speaking they should have retreated, but still... Shows NCR's dark side, in my opinion. And then the NCR had the gall to hold a grudge over taking heavy losses in a fight they initiated, and declared total war against the survivors. Kinda makes me regret helping the NCR.
Though the peace treaty I brokered was probably the best thing for the Brotherhood survivors.
Of course we're ignoring Fallout 3 and Fallout Tactics, where the Brotherhood is a great deal more cooperative with outsiders... But those were splinter groups anyway.
They preserve the knowledge and do fuck-all with it. Not exactly a good thing.
They trade useful technology, just not the really deadly stuff or power armor. If they had taught the NCR to use power armor properly they'd probably have been absorbed and dissolved long ago. Ugh... I hate the NCR for walking around in mangled power armor with the joints ripped out. They have all those annexed colonies yet couldn't spend the scientist-hours to figure out the proper usage? So they scrapped miracles of pre-war tech into fancy metal plates. The NCR's research team in New Vegas is a joke too, it exists to have a mercenary recover incredibly dangerous viral biomatter research. I'm sure *that* will end well. Not to mention their "science team" at HELIOS 1. The few Brotherhood survivors in Hidden Valley aren't getting much done anymore, but they were before the NCR rolled in.
Yeesh, why did I support the NCR again? I should have taken the courier route with a Brotherhood alliance.
Two: House originally could've been convinced into letting the Brotherhood work with them, and all the files are there, including the ending. Mods are fun.
Oh hell yes, there's the ending I wanted.