Cyanogen is all hype. There is absolutely nothing special about it, and I definitely wouldn't waste my time flashing it.
For what it's worth... and I've told a few people this via PM now... Ever since ROMs first started popping up everywhere, I've been flashing new ROMs at least twice a day. More often than not, it was closer to four times a day. I finally bit the bullet about two weeks ago and flashed to Cyanogen. Ever since then, the only time I touch the ROM is when an updated version of Cyanogen comes out.
It's all the little things that leave me hooked... a reboot option, 360 degree auto-rotate, the ability to update rather than flash and start over when new releases come out, The most stable rom by far that I have used, Apps2SD which I haven't played with yet... but it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside knowing I have something new to try when I run out of other new things to discover with this ROM.
Just because a huge group of people are jumping on the bandwagon doesn't mean there's nothing but hype surrounding something. Sometimes the attention is warranted. This, IMO, would be one of those times. But to each their own... I don't see much point in trying to convince someone I don't know to do something that wouldn't affect me. All I can say is that I'm using Cyanogen and I'll never look back.