Re: ovecooked HDR, there is a simple explanation IMHO. When people buy something to produce a certain effect, they need to feel, hear or see the effect. That means that they will push the processing until the shot screams \"HDR! HDR!\".
I saw the same effect years ago when subwoofers were introduced in high-end hi-fi. The reason to go to subwoofers is that bass sounds are non directional, so one subwoofer makes no difference over a more converntional bass set-up, and is visually more discreet. Contrary to which, almost every subwoofer owner pushed bass to the point that the sounds screamed \"subwoofer!\" in a totally unrealistic, but spectacular way.
