I think it's more of a symptom of music in the last (....) years that so many journalists still go on about it.
I am too young to remember it at source (I'm of '74 vintage), but I feel I've lived through it 10.000 times over with the references, books, articles, etc, that flood everywhere year after year.
I've got quite a few records of the era - loads of classics (Stranglers, Buzzcocks, etc.) but were they even punk bands in the first place?
As for being a good thing, I'm 50/50 - I often think that maybe it sent music back to a state to where it has never recovered - a status of 'cool' over a certain style, and burying a lot of progression into the 'uncool' bin. Bands still trying to live off it 35 years later!
I do love a lot of records of the era, but would have probably been lynched at the time for my fondness of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and some Yes records!