I have to weigh in and agree. I detest slotta basing.
Then I feel the need to weigh in as a counterpoint and say I think you're both out of your minds.

I think the crappy toy-soldier army-guy blob on the bottom of figures is:
1) ridiculously silly-looking
2) insufficient to use as a standalone base
3) enormously tall if you stick it on another base
4) a pain in the @#$@ to remove if you don't
5) a waste of casting material
Or, in other words,
absolutely the worst possible basing solution imaginable. I honestly cannot fathom why on earth you would ever want a giant chunk of excess slag attached to the bottom of your figures. What possible purpose does it serve? Complaints about slottas being "too thick" are nothing new, but if that's so, why would you want the extra height from a cast-on wad, no matter what you use? "I think 3mm slottas are too thick, so I'd rather stick a 2mm mound onto a 2mm plank." That's crazy talk!
I avoid them, and when I can't avoid them, cut them off and glue the figures directly onto the base.
Right. And if you
do prefer slottas - or for that matter
anything other than an afterthought wad of poorly-textured chewing gum - then welcome to a hell of a lot of work, as opposed to just clipping and filing two minimal contact points under the boot soles.
Now, if it's the actual slotta
base that you dislike, then I completely sympathize, because that is down to personal preference for a specific aesthetic. I know a lot of people who like the Warmachine style of base, with rounded-edge, recessed surface, and pronounced lip. I don't; for me, it seems to tweak that same "artificial pedestal" sense that I think sets you off. Personally, I happen to like the clean-beveled-edge look of GW-style bases. True, that may be solely because of "what I grew up with" (i.e. Warhammer), but I contend that your preference is precisely the same. And that is totally ok!
But as far as a practical solution, the "technology" of slotta-bases is absolutely brilliant. If you have some convincing argument for the objective superiority of integral bases, I would dearly love to hear it, because I truly cannot understand how any good comes from it.
- H8