Fan-favorite side characters

No offense to Stamets and Culber, but the award for best gay couple in Star Trek definitely goes to Bashir and Garak.

Please stop with this nonsense that anytime two guys are good friends they are gay for each other.
- It's not nonsense:
  Garak was initially intended by actor Andrew Robinson to be omnisexual. Indeed, Garak's first encounter with Bashir is very clearly sexually charged, which Robinson has stated was intentional. Though the pair would eventually become good friends, his primary interest in Bashir at the outset was sexual. That aspect of the character was eventually dropped for some disappointingly cowardly reasons.
  The idea of a queer character on a Star Trek show was routinely vetoed by executive producer Rick Berman. Berman believed any hint of non-heterosexuality on Star Trek would have alienated a significant portion of the franchise's fan base across America in the '90s. It's an unsurprisingly reductive point of view, especially for a franchise as famous for its progressive politics and social messaging as Star Trek. It also flies in the face of the views of Star Trek franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, who was advocating for LGBT representation by the early days of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the late '80s.
  https://screenrant.com/star-trek-ds9-garak-queer-rick-berman-veto/
  And I choose to headcanon that we just didn't see any of the physical affection on screen.
- It’s literally how the character was being played. Famed homophobe and asshole Producer Rick Berman demanded that Garak’s attraction to Bashir be played down because network snowflakes or something.
  To your point, Bashir and O’Brian had a very close relationship.And while they had a massive bromance, no one thought they were gay for each other.
- To add to what Flying Squid said, Andrew Robinson wrote a biography of Garak (and his up bringing in the shadow of Enabran Tain and his education by the Obsidian Order). In that book, Garak is VERY bi and there's strong hints that he could have been in a poly triad with a Cardassian boy and girl in Obsidian Order school... if only their loyalty and duty to the state hadn't complicated everything.
- Merry Christmas, bub

One problem with popular side characters is that they often get ruined when the writers notice the popularity and make them appear more and more.

Sometimes the scarcity of something is part of the appeal. This also goes for popular adversaries.

This also goes for popular adversaries.
Especially if they keep getting defeated, which makes them less threatening each time they show up. Looking at you, Borg in VOY. Farscape's writers came up with Harvey specifically so they could have Scorpius make frequent appearances without diminishing his threat level.
- That’s why I like Q. Dude just randomly shows up, but never gets defeated.
Yeah, the sweet spot is when people start obsessing over them in syndication after the series has wrapped up.
Garak was a round character played by an actor that absolutely understood the role. He would have done just fine with more appearances

Why would anyone be interested in an ordinary tailor?

And such a plain, simple one.
Not so ordinary. I hear he used to be a gardener. On Romulous.

Morn

I'm not a fan of Morn, he monopolizes any screentime he gets with those ridiculous monologues.
- Monologopises

Live, laugh, love, Garak...

More Dabo Girls, please.

Ok, now that the ugly argument is over, I think there's one fan favorite side character we must honor above all. Especially for his lovely singing voice.