I think one of the reasons to become archer for many players is the average skill level in melee in the cRPG community. I don't say it's the driving factor for all archers, but I claim it's a good percentage. And even the "I only went archery because I enjoy it more, I know how to fight in melee"-argumentation could come from the fact that you don't have so much to deal with the reactions of your enemy while fighting him, as you have to in melee. I only write this to prevent some reactions, claiming that archers are not afraid of anything. It's not exclusively about being afraid.
What I want to say with the whole "no melee plz"-archer-attitude is, that raising the melee capabilities will not make archers stand and fight, if they don't want melee at all. They could have 10PS, 180WPF in melee, and some of them would still prefer to run, because they don't feel as entertained or even as "safe" in melee as in ranged.
I don't like the whole "melee archer" argumentation, and this is also where I disagree with Teeth, who usually is a very smart and reasonble guy.