I find it infuriating that spammers are still able to get their hands on exact match domain names

I've bought a few of these domains and had to pay a freeking fortune to get them.  The fact is, however, I decided that I wanted them in 2005, 2008, 2011 and the people who I bought them from had owned them for a long time collecting ad revenue from the type-in traffic.  Their price was waaay waaay more then the appraisal but if you want the domain and know how to use it you can make a freeking fortune back.

Should google give them a ranking advantage?  I think the answer is yes, a small advantage and anyone who wants that advantage can obtain it simply by paying the price to get them.  If you are willing to pay or was smart enough to register the domain early then that advantage is your reward.

I own several exact match domains.  I can say with confidence that they used to be very powerful in ranking a website.  However, google has turned down that benefit significantly as recently as this year.  I do think that they still give some value - but only for exact match queries.

I like them for reasons beyond that....

1. in my opinion they have extra good conversion rates because people who land on them think... "Oh... this is widgets.com... they must know their stuff about widgets."

2. this implied credibility - even if undeserved - makes them a better target for likes, links, tweets, mentions and they can easily become the "go to place" for their product or topic if you are willing to put work into them

3. finally, they give me mental energy.... If I owned baloney.com I would become the world's expert on baloney and build a fantastic site... if you own a domain like that you owe it to the domain to do a good job.

So, I would be willing to pay a good amount of dough for an exact match domain ... but only if I am the right person to control it.  I would not want knitting.com or even wine.com because I don't know anything about these subjects.

When you get good advice it is generally best just to say "thanks".... and sometimes abrasive advice is a little more motivating - at least that is the effect that it has on me.