She's very, very inconsistent and she plays games. If Lindsay were a real person, she'd be the type I can't stand. Brown-nosing, self-involved know-it-all who treats the sweet, cute guy like crap? Yeah, she's just not likable.
What games? She stood Danny up once. Right? That wasn't good of her. After that, she made it clear that she didn't want a relationship, that she needed space. Danny pursued her, right?
In fact, I could turn that around on Danny. He pursued her, flirted with her, went to Montana for her, slept with her, continued to flirt (he calls her "hon" at one point), then he forgets her birthday, lies to her (or omits the truth), sleeps with his neighbor, and then seems to be pursuing Lindsay again after she tells him that she needs to fall out of love with him.
What's Danny's motivation? Is he healed now from the trauma of Ruben's death? Was sleeping with Rikki a one (two) time thing, or is she on the side while he attempts to fix things with Lindsay? Or is he trying to fix things with Lindsay romantically, or just to be friends?
To me, Danny looks like a jerk. Lindsay isn't perfect, but what is attributed as selfish and rude in Lindsay is apparently made perfectly fine in Danny -- because he's cute? That's pretty much the impression I've been getting.
And the irritation at Lindsay isn't always fair. I recall a review that was written that complained about Lindsay in "Sweet 16". She commented that on her 16th birthday she got a beat-up car. This was rude and selfish and petty of Lindsay to say about a girl who just lost her father.
The kicker is, that wasn't the whole quote. She said she loved her beat-up hand-me-down car. She was commenting on the excesses of wealthy society -- something that many other characters have done over and over in this show.
Belknap is an incredibly limited actress. Maybe she's been good on stage--I don't know, I haven't seen any of her stage work--but on television she's flat and lacks the ability to disappear into her character, which is something actors need to be able to do.
Again, that's an opinion, not a fact. Lindsay isn't my favorite character, and Ana isn't my favorite actress, but she's not nearly as bad as some make her out to be. Sure, she needs to improve. Eddie needs to improve too, as does Carmine.
I agree with
JellyBelly about Lindsay's supposed eye-roll in "All in the Family". To me she didn't roll her eyes at all. It looked like she let out a breath that was partial relief that Mac (pretended) to buy her lie and partial disbelief that she had in fact lied to her boss.
I think a real part of the problem with the way people respond to Lindsay is that she is NOT an endearing character. I don't think she was ever meant to be endearing or soft. She is meant to be a young, brash, country girl who comes to the big city and tries to prove herself. She isn't good at reaching out and connecting emotionally.
In fact, she goes out of her way to try avoid that kind of thing, and when someone she knows needs help, she asks for advice first (All Access, Raising Shane, Child's Play). Moments of closeness with others tend to be awkward for her. I don't think it's necessarily a lack of skill on Ana's part that makes Lindsay so unappealing; it's just that Lindsay won't allow herself to be warm and open.
Part of that, I'm sure, comes from the deaths of her friends. It's not an excuse, but it will affect her behavior much the same way Ruben's death affects Danny (and will continue to affect him for a long time).
Stella got more emotion in the one line to Frank than Anna did in all her scenes. 
