To be honest, I don't see why snaking is  so bad. Play Mario Kart DS and TRY to get 1-3 stars in 150cc and 150cc MIRROR without snaking.  Why is something THAT YOU MUST USE in order to get far  bad? I bet all the people complaining struggle to beat 100c, let alone 150cc. Mirror should not even be considered.
                   What do you think? Am I missing something? Because I really don't see what's  so hard about  drifting, tilting the D-Pad and let  the trigger go. :/

I only find it bad when it's completely unnecessary and possibly even game-breaking. But ultimately it's a feature that I'm happy to be without, provided that the game is designed to be perfectly fine without it (MK7 for the win). Well, until snaking was eventually discovered... grr...

As implemented in Mario Kart DS (and likely Double Dash, but i never did much local multi with double dash, if any, so i never discovered it), it was a feature where those who snaked would win, and those who did not snake would not win, which made the drifting mechanic, only intended as one part of the game strategy, into the sole mechanic that mattered (unless all competitors were as good at snaking as you were)

It made the game into something it was not meant to be.

I'm guessing snaking is where you keep drifting left and right to get a boost?

Snaking is a way to abuse the system. I should know, I use it myself. But online, I only do it when I'm really falling behind and I prevent myself to do it when I'm in first place...

It turns boosting into something tedious. Who would want that?

It's not that snaking perse was bad, it was just that a lot of people were simply abusing it during online play. Often I would lose because some jackass was snaking all throughout the race. People abusing it just takes the fun out of playing online. I used too but not to desperately beat/win at an online race.

 Pressing and holding the trigger,  tilting the D-Pad and letting the trigger go= Tedious? I do this with ease.  Even though I admit I mostly  drift when I come close to corners. I only sometimes snake. I only snake when I am in last place because some jackass used  a blue shell. THAT is something people should complain about.

wait, is snaking when you wiggle the joystiq back and forth to the speed boost in marokart (up until mario kart wii) i'm a little out of the loop on this subject. And what's the deal? I mean why is there a debate? Are there people mad that this (if i'm correct) was ever in any of the mario's?

 Yes, on a straight track. It's considered an abused drifting mechanic. I am Ok with it. Specially since I MUST BE good with snaking in MKDS online.