Pretty sure he's not joking...
Since joining in January you've gone through 4 different program's, getting opinions on them each time lol. Like your 5x5 for everything program.
"5 x 5 Failures
It wasn’t the program’s fault, genius. It was your own! If you’re running a 5 x 5 program that looks like this below, you better hit the “abort” button sooner rather than later:
Squat, 5 x 5
Deadlift, 5 x 5
Bench press, 5 x 5
Military press, 5 x 5
Worse yet, 5 x 5 failures do all this in one workout! No wonder these guys crash and burn!" Mike Robertson
Logically the body doesn't know the difference between free weight and machine. They both produce an external stimulus but one doesn't need as many muscles to produce movement. Does that make one better for overall muscular stimulation? Yes. Does that make the stimulation of the muscles used in the machine movement any less significant than the free weight version? No.
Just because you wasted a crapload of time on machines in previous years doesn't mean that every one will. You said it yourself, they were your LAZY YEARS. Which makes me think you just didn't give a fuck, put no effort in and are now having at the lack of results they gave you.
This is the BODYBUILDING forum, so all these junk machines serve a purpose. Most likely people want to target weak points in their physique, and can do that with machines.