Edsel never really was a bad brand, but I digress.Tone is difficult to convey and interpret in a forum setting, so please let me clarify...
The Fascinate isn't a subpar phone, and that's definitely what I'm trying to convey. For giving you the impression that I might have been denigrating the phone or, by proxy, those who chose to buy one, I apologize. On the other hand, the point that I'm attempting to make is that Verizon doesn't seem to consider it to be a flagship device. Rather, it's presented as an android device "for the masses." The current marquee devices for VZW are the Droid 2 and the Droid X.
The numerous bugs that shipped with the Fascinate are getting fixed at a decent enough pace, and you're absolutley correct in that Froyo and custom ROMs are only going to enhance the user experience.