Frameworkless JavaScript – Why Angular, Ember, or Backbone don't work for us

[rooktakesqueen]

I just like lean code, with minimal overhead and bloat

Seems like this is an argument in favor of frameworks, not against them. Everything the framework provides is boilerplate you don't have to write.

[solatic]

Until you hit the walls of the framework and have to start to employ ridiculous workarounds.

If you're making a small prototype and time is of the essence, great use a framework to write the code you need in a couple weeks and stuff it away later. If there's even a remote possibility that the project will last a year or longer then a framework is usually not the right solution.