I was referring to people always using the paper towel method - I use a separator all the time and love it!
If a soup has some small globules of fat floating around, I actually like it. Similar to dressing a minestrone with a thin stream of EVOO, or a South-East Asian soup with some garlic-chile oil.
I mainly use the paper towel method when there is a small amount of fat on top of taco meat or such. For broths and gravies, I ladle off what rises to the top, if more needs to come of i put an ice cube in to congeal the fat.
I will be doing this a lot more in the future. Low-fat/Low-cholesterol diet, these days.