They gave a bad review to Hobgoblin Lives

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He refused to let go of Ned Leeds being the Hobgoblin, despite the guy who created the freaking character saying otherwise.

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It was a good story, but truthfully, for me it was too long after the fact to fix the problem.  Plus, the guy he turned out to be hadn't even been seen in 15 years, or referred to. Pretty much a let down.  and with Norman Osborn back, the Hobgoblin is superfluous.  and it made little sense to me that Norman would let this guy run around as the Goblin.

Pretty much, a story I felt just didn't need to be told, and should have been allowed to die.

As for "creator" intent, well, again, rereading the original Goblin issues there is exactly one small hint that it is who it was.

and that was not followed up on by DeFalco at all.

and the evil twin thing is a cheat and cliche to me,

I have to concur with Rob.  "Hobgoblin Lives" was one of the biggest blue-balls letdowns ever - especially since it had a masterfully-crafted multi-year build up. 

I didn't even remember the guy Hobby turned out to be - it might as well have been some gaffer from PBS's The Electric Company via a tenuous connection with Spidey Super Stories.

In fact, now that I think about it, it should have been Easy Reader ... then, bring in Morgan Freeman for the movie, natch.

Rob Hewitt: It was a good story, but truthfully, for me it was too long after the fact to fix the problem.  Plus, the guy he turned out to be hadn't even been seen in 15 years, or referred to. Pretty much a let down.  and with Norman Osborn back, the Hobgoblin is superfluous.  and it made little sense to me that Norman would let this guy run around as the Goblin.

Norman didn't.  There was an excellent follow-up story by Roger Stern and Glenn Greenberg that tied up the loose ends very well.  I don't want to post any spoilers, so just go read SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #259-261, "Gobins at the Gate!"  Great stuff!

Gene Best: "Hobgoblin Lives" was one of the biggest blue-balls letdowns ever - especially since it had a masterfully-crafted multi-year build up.

Masterfully-crafted?  Yeah, up until DeFalco and Frenz left AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.  A letdown?  Compared to what?  The ending of the Hobgoblin saga in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #289 had me, (to quote Ron White) spinning into a dimension of pissed-off I have never been before in my life.  What an utter and total piss-poor way to end a terrific character.  Ned Leeds' death was shown in a flashback to a book that wasn't even available on the spinner rack of the store where I bought my comics at the time.  So, I came into that issue with a big ol' "WTF??!!!"

That Roger Stern was able to come back and make something worthwhile out of the shit that happened over the intervening years is testament to his unparalleled ability as a writer.

Also, it corrected the mistake of turning a character like Ned Leeds into a criminal, as well as the stupidity that he was killed by simple guys, off panel, for crying out loud!

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and he yelled "Spider-man help me." or something

Pretty much though for a long time it could only really have been Ned or whatshis name the other guy Peter was in competition with.

Thomas Mets: If Marvel ever does a Spider-Man Visionaries: Roger Stern series it would be a good idea for them to end it with a collection that includes Goblins at the Gate, and The Hobgoblin Lives (an out of print $12.95 collection of the historic 3 parter isn't enough.)

I'll take that even further, Thomas.  I wish they'd put out a Hobgoblin trade paperback (or two even!) that covered the original character (couldn't care less about the Macendale Hobgoblin) completely.  Every appearance from Kingsley's first in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, all the way through to "Goblins at the Gate."  That way I wouldn't have to pull out so many different comics to read the entire story.

I didn't even remember the guy Hobby turned out to be - it might as well have been some gaffer from PBS's The Electric Company via a tenuous connection with Spidey Super Stories.

Missing the point.  In all fairness, I felt the same way at first, but when you really go back to the original Hobgoblin stories, Kingsley is definitely part of the fabric and a perfectly logical choice.  The problem, obviously, is that so many years passed before Rog got the chance to tell the story he originally wanted to tell.  Had Hobgoblin Lives been released in 1986, it would've been a fantastic resolution.