What do people generally think of Deep Space Nine?

One of the flaws in the series franchise, many felt, was the fact that it was a stationary show. It was set in a space station and so people had to come to the show rather than the show go out and explore new universes. And that was one of the original appeals of the first Star Trek, as well as the Next Generation. It was about exploration, the wild frontier. Some people felt that the show was eternally handicapped by that. In later seasons they tried to address it with different twists.

In the end Deep Space Nine did not live up to the Next Generation's success. It was never as highly rated. But it critically did pretty well and ratings-wise, it was a solid success. Compared to other syndicated programmes Deep Space Nine still did very well.

It lasted a good six years and Paramount shut it down simply because at some point it became not profitable to continue to produce the show.

It made more sense to simply end it because Paramount then had enough episodes to syndicate it even further. Once there were over a hundred and twenty episodes stations could air the show five nights a week, which is where the real money is in syndication.