I hate both. If "ask" is on, it's constantly harassing me. If "ask" is off, I have to search hard to find the setting that lets me connect to a wifi network in a tool that also lets me change the language I'm using.
This isn't quite fair. It may be better to have a menu from the Wifi toggle in the Control Center, but it's two clicks (Settings, Wifi) to show the list of wifi networks. It's not that hard or obtuse to locate.
2 taps hardly qualifies as having to 'search hard' - and even that is only the first time you need to connect to a brand new network. This smacks of exaggeration for the sake of creating drama where there is none.