Why support mains are disagreeing and why the support role is suffering
I want to get this out of the way, I am not looking for hand outs/buffs for supports. When I first started being a support main I was quite fine with my lack of gold income and having to play from a weaker state then the rest of the players. Would I like buffs to the support role? Well, yeah I am a support main. However, this is about why so few are playing support and why support mains are disagreeing about it.
Let's tackle why people are not playing the support role as much as other roles first.
I've been seeing a lot threads lately about how the support role is not popular and why. Some say they can't ward enough, others think it is a matter of items. A popular explanation is that they lost their ability to keep up with EXP due to the lose of the Inspiration mastery. I will admit I am a fan of this theory.
The short answer is that people want to feel empowered when they play LOL and they don't get that as much in the support role. It is not solely a matter of exp, items, gold, or abilities but rather the feeling that the player had a meaningful contribution. This is very easily fulfilled in the carry roles because you are defeating your enemy directly and you can more actively recognize your impact with KDA and seeing your enemies fall to your prowess. In the support role it is not as direct. You feel empowered when you make a clutch save of an ally or CC the enemy at just the right time so that others can shine with your mastery of timing and mechanics. This is unavoidable and the support role has and always will have less players in it because they don't get that direct satisfactions of being the DPS on the team killing everyone.
This is further complicated by factors like a lack of gold as it can feel bad to have to buy an item to help your ally like 
instead of getting that 
to make yourself stronger. When you are looking at the score board and see your items compared to the opponents it isn't hard to think "Damn, I can't fight anyone." This is often true and many players will not like this. It takes a special mind set to think "Hell yeah, I can save my ADC with this when it counts." instead of what was mentioned before. It is easier to find yourself empowered when you have the power and not just the power to help others.
EXP differences have risen and this also leads to problems with people wanting to be supports. Can you still be effective that far behind? Yes, but think about the message that sends to players that want to feel meaningful? I'm a support main and even I think it feels awful to be so far behind in levels. This makes it even harder to feel meaningful as it isn't hard to fall 3+ levels behind and become so squishy that single abilities can almost kill you. Also, your CC often comes from your levels and falling behind makes them feel weaker. It has become very hard to feel successful and meaningful as a support. It can be done (I'll get to that) but it is a lot harder.
As a support, being behind in gold and EXP makes it very hard to feel powerful in LOL. Add onto this how easy it is to snowball in solo-que and it is a pretty hard sell to make people want to play a support. Not only do you need to believe in your ability to help other more then your own power. You also need to keep the belief that you are impactful when you are so much weaker then other roles. This isn't easy for most people to see and that is why most players do not desire the support role.
Alright, now lets tackle why us supports can't seem to agree.
I have seen every explanation from a lack of EXP, too little gold, need more items, not enough control over warding, and a few other things too. Every time I see anything posted about the support role I also see a lot of disagreement. Some want more warding, some want more gold, some want more EXP and some think everything is fine. The reason for this is kind of what I stated earlier. You can play the support role in many different ways. However, not every way will work and sometimes certain styles do not work at all. The reason many supports think that everything is fine is because they currently have a play style in which they feel empowered. Whatever that style is they are thriving in the current meta.
There isn't one way to play this game. There are many. This is deeper then just being aggressive or passive. There are so many options for support that really it is quite amazing. Supports have never had so many options for them as they do now. They no longer have to be the sole provider of vision and they have quite a few unique build paths. Support champions are some of the most diverse champions in league of legends.
This cannot be explained easily because it comes down to individual style. Similar to how one jungler likes to start with Krugs first while another likes to start red buff first. Nothing wrong with either choice they just have different pathing and styles. One likes to farm it out for mid/late the other is looking for a level 2 gank and to apply early pressure. Another jungler might love to counter-jungle a lot more. It is the same for supports (and I imagine other roles too). Some players like having more control over their wards. Some like roaming a lot to pressure other lanes. Some are content to sit in lane to insure their ADC is getting nice and fat with CS. The play style even differs when out of the laning phase and there are really a lot of choices when you think about it.
I believe there are certain styles that are just not working and people can't agree because there are other styles that are working. However, if our goal is to bring in more people to the support role we should be making sure that all play styles are working because it is that diversity that will help other players feel empowered in the role. It isn't that a lack of EXP is the problem, it is that it is one problem of many. It isn't that lack of warding control is a problem, it is one problem of many. It isn't that the role is perfect either, there is a reason that many support mains are upset, it is because their play style is being hurt. If your style is working that is great! However, that doesn't mean people want to play the exact way you do. If we want more people to play support then the more styles and ways we can play the better. I don't think there is a one size fits all style, but I think with the limitations currently on supports that there are a lot fewer ways to play as a support then there used to be.
EDIT: Moved top two paragraphs down into middle. People were getting too held up on the quick examples given and trying to defend why X, Y, Z is making support weak/strong. Not quite the focus of the post. This isn't about buffing support this is about drawing players to the support role and why support mains can't agree.
hook would dramatically change a teamfight regardless of how good your ADC is. Blitz is also a great example of feeling empowered. When you land that hook you know you are being impactful, when you miss that hook you feel awful. However, the really good blitz players rarely use their hooks except when they know they will hit with it as the threat of just having it makes an impact. This is a hard concept to understand for many players that CC is scary and when you use it correctly you will turn a teamfight. It is just really hard to feel that with many supports at this time.
and 
on your support you can create enormous amounts of map pressure where ever you want it. The only thing I find lacking in the support role is I would like an announcement when I save someones bacon. People like to play carries because they get to hear 'double kill, triple kill', meanwhile it's all but ignored when I chain all my abilities to save the out of position carry 3x in a row. I think the role would be played more if the players felt like they got some sort of recognition.
and the like), a lot of what supports do isn't all that noticeable. Even with them, it's not always noticeable. Sure, a Thresh hook that catches the ADC and gets a kill is sometimes appreciated, but what about the Thresh ult that stopped Voli or Udyr from getting to your squishies with their insane move speed? Or the flay that knocked Katarina out of her ult or Sion out of his Q that would have destroyed your team?
is trash, 
is not good anymore since marksmen usually get more than 50% crit now (the 20% ap also isn't exactly noticeable when you only have 50-100 ap. The best support item is 
"Brad wtf. Why you no ward enough? Why you ultimate me?"
"Brad? More like bad. Come Support me useless! Wandering support right?!"
"Bard you know those shrines you placed at the beginning of the game in the Jungle? I NEED MORE!"
and 
less relevant. This is because they have high base damage, assuming they have levels, which they will likely not be able to get. Right now, the best supports in most peoples opinions are 
for tanks and 
for non tanks. Why is this? Because at level 6, you basically have all that you need. Alistars ult is such a huge damage reduction that if hes behind on levels, it wont even matter. As for Janna, you cant get to her at all because of her peel, so being excessively squishy isnt too much of a problem since her ult gives her a free pass. (Of course add the kitable meta helping Janna, but i firmly believe the exp disadvantage puts her in a more favourable position then basically any other support).
or 
and typically have a higher K/D than their ADC. This actually can work if your ADC is willing to get their income from CS and assists; ADCs don't need a ton of items to be tower killers while their "support" keeps the enemy "entertained". Again, it has to do with the snowball nature of S6; a few kills on your "support" means you can go toe to toe with the enemy without needing your ADC, freeing the ADC up to take objectives.
insert gold income item here, and the items are quite vanilla. Supports dont have the option to take interesting build paths without basically being trolling.
, you have less mana regen than the FQC line;
No offensive stat of any sort, so if you do want to skirmish in lane, you have no AP, no AD, no damage increase, no nothing;
No defensive stats (no armor, no MR, no HP) - again putting you at a disadvantage if you do have to fight in lane.
rush
(bot lane) 
) so there's always a mid game shift in my jobs as simply bot lane support, At that point it's stuns slows and deals heavy damage. It becomes aggressive to the point of tears sometimes. I'll actually sell off most of my build, and rebuild and reshift my focus to killing enemy champs, but still maintaining warding (like with an 
or an 
) but replacing certain items like a 
with a 
and adding a titanic Hydra to the list of things to destroy with. I like my Ad malphite support. I'm the kind of support that if it looks like an enemy is getting away I'll wait till the last second but I'm taking the shot. I've had so many adc cry so hard over it. I mean they were no where near. I usually just keep going, because if I don't respect your ADC ability because you've not shown me anything, then Imma try to feed you kills, but if I doubt for a second your gonna get thet kill, I'm not disengaging until the champs either dead, gone, or back up's arrived. And if it comes to me ending the chase, then the kills mine, shoulda kept up. or been ready. I try not to ks. I'm just not letting one go.
and 
, that rounds Malphite out with 
, and 
. After that I might go into a ice born, then I just deal tons of damage, and while my cd's are going I still hit hard af. And I can afford to stand there longer and do a lot more damage, especially as I don't click around in fights, I click targets and ready for my q w e's to come back.