I wanted to play ME2 after seeing it get GOTY's everywhere and decided I really should play the first one before that.
 
I would REALLY like to know people's explanations for saving Ashley instead of Kaidan. The only one I can think of is that she's a human you can try to get with, but she was too big of an ass for me to want to have my Shepard get with her. 
 
Seriously. Tell me. Why would you save her. I didn't hesitate for a moment when that choice came up.

meh, two 2D characters - save the chick.

Cause Kaiden was a whiny wimp who wouldn't stop flirting with me.

Why would I save Ashley? Kaiden was way cooler than that space bigot.

I really disliked both of them and thought for a second when I was given the choice. I remembered Ashley had a problem with Garrus then the choice became clear.

I found her to be a much better character than Kaiden, with her families history, xenophobia and she was overall more memorable than the soft spoken Kaiden who done little besides whine about his biotics training.

" I found her to be a much better character than Kaiden, with her families history, xenophobia and she was overall more memorable than the soft spoken Kaiden who done little besides whine about his biotics training. "

Yeah and if i remember correctly if you save her, she'll whine about it afterwards, "Why did you save me, it should have been me, i dont deserve this" -crap. Really annoying, just went "fine sheesh i'll choose Kaiden instead, you don't have to be an ungrateful bitch about it"

" I found her to be a much better character than Kaiden, with her families history, xenophobia and she was overall more memorable than the soft spoken Kaiden who done little besides whine about his biotics training. "

" @Abyssfull said:

" I found her to be a much better character than Kaiden, with her families history, xenophobia and she was overall more memorable than the soft spoken Kaiden who done little besides whine about his biotics training. "

From my point of view she hated most of my team (Ew, aliens) and was randomly an ass (There was a bitchy exchange with Liara after one mission)  Then she ALSO SHOT WREX WHEN THE BIT WITH THE CURE CAME UP SO I HAD TO RELOAD MY SAVE TO HAVE WREX NOT DIE.  You don't kill Wrex. "

" Yeah and if i remember correctly if you save her, she'll whine about it afterwards, "Why did you save me, it should have been me, i dont deserve this" -crap. Really annoying, just went "fine sheesh i'll choose Kaiden instead, you don't have to be an ungrateful bitch about it" "

I actually liked both of them as characters -- I don't get all the hate. It was a pretty tough choice, but in the end I went with Ashley because I think she was guarding the bomb or something like that, and I figured that was probably more important to the mission. This was a while ago, so I don't really remember.

Ashley was xenophobic so I got her killed. Kaiden isn't much better, though.

If I could have let them both die, I would have.  I kept Ashley around because she was more useful in battle.  Of course, not as useful as my alien brosephs, but having an assault is way better than having some squishy biotics whimp.

I planned on saving ashley because... you know, but then I found out she was a fundamentalist xenophobic prick and a middleing soldier.

I didn't care much for Kaidan, but I had such a heavy dislike for Ashley that I didn't need to care for the other option too much.
 
I would really like for Mass Effect 2 to give me choice moments where I actually have to consider it for a moment. That didn't happen here, nor did it happen in Dragon Age. There was always a clear cut "This is the way to go" way for me.

I just didn't like Kaidan, don't really know why.

I really disliked Kaidan. All he ever did was whine about his headaches. He didn't seem to have any distinctive personality traits. So that was easy decision.     
 
I didn't mind Ashley, her Alien distrust and disgraced father was certainly more interesting than headaches. The conversations made me think about aspects of the ME universe like racial tensions and the Alliance.

I saved Kaidan on every run through I did on the first ME. I have no idea why either, I always liked Ashley better as a character, but she just seemed so much better suited for the whole self-sacrifice sequence. 
 
Maybe I hated Kaidan and wanted him to live on in the universe with the guilt that it should have been him out there. Who knows.

I didn't like either of the characters, but I disliked Kaidan more.  I never really used either of them throughout the game, because both Garrus and Wrex are way more SPACE than any human could ever be.

"meh, two 2D characters - save the chick. "

No idea. I killed her off without a second glance. She almost killed Wrex (actually she did but I reloaded a save) so that bitch had to go!

I'm with the OP. 
 
I (being Shepard) am running an important space-mission and I don't need space-racists to spread their space-hatred on my space-ship.  
 
It's inefficient, I need everyone 100% cooperating. That's why Jack didn't quite make it in my file, either.

Saved her cuz she's a chick. But I never used her for missions.

I didn't care much for Kaidan, but I had such a heavy dislike for Ashley that I didn't need to care for the other option too much.
 
I would really like for Mass Effect 2 to give me choice moments where I actually have to consider it for a moment. That didn't happen here, nor did it happen in Dragon Age. There was always a clear cut "This is the way to go" way for me.

Did exactly the same thing.  I wasn't a huge fan of Kaiden, he was a very dull character..  But Ashley was a bible basher, racist and extremely annoying. 
As soon as I saw the ability to put her in danger, I didn't hesitate for a second to do it.  Would have flushed her out of the airlock sooner, if there was the option.

beyond her being not to kind to aliens she was alright. Also you could bang her which is reason enough for most. I say i liked Ashley way more then Kaidan every time you talked to kaidan he came off as whiny and was always bitching about something so that choice was not hard to make when i had to choose.

I actually tohught you could save both since the situation didn't really seem all that inevitable. At this point all of them killed dozens of Geth and really shouldn't have had any problems dealing with those for a few minutes. I went for Ashley thinking she might need help to keep her alive while Kaiden can clearly hold out for a bit. It was kind of a bummer to lose him since I wanted to know more about how they justify all this biotic business.

I don't feel like sitting here and explaining Ashley's 'asshole-ness,' but I will say there are good reasons for it that people often forget. I didn't forget and, in a way, I kinda felt sorry for her. Therefore, I decided to save her. 
 
And I wanted to bang her.

She actually has a personality. Kaidan has absolutely none. Ashley's backstory is pretty interesting, while Kaidan is only there because BioWare needed a female romance option. It's like Carth Onasi landed in a crossover event.

Also, Ashley's space-racism is so terribly overplayed by fanbots it's not even funny. She doesn't come of as a bigger racist than Pressly.

I really liked Kaidan. I don't know what it was about him. I feel bad everytime I leave him to die, but I actually wanted Ashley to die as well... so it works out great. I just think she's a really hateable character.

I think when I was playing on the hardest difficultly, I would camp behind a wall and send in Wrex and Ash.
 
I would res them whenever they needed and they took all aggro while I slowly whittled down enemies.
 
But really, its your call

Because I vastly prefer a character I feel something for (even if it's negativity) to one that I feel nothing for.

Ashley is a hot piece of ass,kaiden is a guy,nuff said.

I always save the girls. That's how I roll.

" meh, two 2D characters - save the chick. "

I saved Ashley cause I wanted to romance her, and I almost immediately regretted it afterwards. Her xenophobia makes her more memorable but damn if it isn't annoying.
 
When she came back in ME2 to bitch at me, you can bet that I romanced another squadmate out of spite.

I didn't like Ash at first, she came off as way too into being a tough chick. But then Kaiden tried to get in my pants and I was like No Sir! So I greatly appreciated her taking that bullet for me. Also Kaiden is too school boy, he bored me. I was still sad when he had to eat it but what'cha gonna do, Ash was way better in a fight

Agreed, dude.  I would rather have a kind of blandish dude than that bitchy-ass... well, bitch.  Also, space racist.
 
I hated her and was bummed when I played ME2 on 360 and the canon for not having a save was that you saved her since I played ME1 on PC.

I found Kaidan to be very boring.

I'd have to agree that if you weren't in it for the romance with Ashley (and I'd honestly rather romance Wrex than Ashley), Kaiden was the right choice. He's actually an interesting character, and I like his voice actor a lot. 
 
Liara is the defacto Mass Effect romance anyway.