This is a site that is dedicated to the analysis of sales figures and people will generally fixate on whatever the most "exciting" sales data there is ...

Now, you're correct that we can't fully judge the lifetime sales of a console based on its initial six months on the market but you can start to get an idea how it will end up selling. With selling far below the rate of the PSP and PS3 it is reasonably safe to assume that the PS-Vita will sell to a lower level than these systems did; and lower sales and increased development costs compared to your previous generation system is never a good combination for a company.

With how well the 3DS is selling I think it is far too early to "doom" dedicated gaming handhelds ...

While there is an argument for the idea that dedicated handhelds are doomed, I cannot see how the failure of the Vita will make any difference to the overall fate of handheld consoles. All it means is that whatever the Vita offers - its games, its pricing and its graphical prowess - is rejected by the market.

Nintendo has essentially had a monopoly on dedicated handheld consoles since the Gameboy; one of its competitors' products failing in the market is not alarming. Rather, it's natural and completely normal. I would instead argue that, should the Vita fail, it proves that the PSP was only able to achieve the success it did achieve in this market thanks to the formerly mighty PlayStation brand which buoyed its sales to a moderately high level and allowed it better third party support than it deserved as a new competitor. With these advantages having disappeared to some extent, it just looks like the natural order of things - Nintendo controlling this market (even if it is shrinking) - has been restored.

No, being realistic would be to wait and see what happens instead of assuming that a poor start means it's doomed.  You'd have to be addicted to pessimism or be flat out hateful to WANT it to fail.  Either way, it's dumb to jump on the anti-Vita bandwagon. Sales or not, there's still a lot of years left in the system and it will probably end up at 50 million once Sony figures out how to make it work.  

It's public hatred and opinion that's making the system fail, becuase it's got tonnes of potential and is amazingly good overall.  again, the issue is the public and their desire to see it fail.  The rampant negativity helps people stay away, and the more people stay away, the more negative they want to be to justify their aversion.  It's a viscious circle, do break the circle and try being positive.  

Dreamcast had much better games that Vita now has
if someone suggested the contrary....

I study box office, which is similar to console and game sales, and trust me, there's LOTS of wiggle room.  That's like being able to tell how good an indie film is going to do based on its first week, when everyone knows it's about legs.  We doubly know that Sony is known for supporting their stuff long after the next system comes out, so there's a solid 5-7 years left of the handheld's life before we can really tell.  

Hell, PS3 was selling poorly for like 3 years before it turned itself around!  

Put it this way unless Vita has a monsterous holiday then it will probably die

I hate to say that because I love the console but its in massive trouble.

The line between Vita "hate" and being realistic is all about context. Just like telling someone "your father died," could be incredibly hurtful, or not, it just depends on what is appropriate.

Just the guy I wanted to ask a question... say the Vita doesn't pick up during the holidays will it loose shelve space to products that sell better? retailers cutting their support?

I think its too soon as well, but the vita being rejected by the market doesn't exactly paint out a rosy picture for the future of the shrinking handheld market.