In my experience Int 8, Str 8 and Cha 8 are frequently seen on various characters, as are 12s in some others. I tend to view both as "slightly below/above average but well withing "normal range". That tends to play out fine as far as our "philosophies" go. 8 int vs 10 Int vs 12 int isnt "kinda dumb" at all, it's more akin to the difference one would see in a modern school system between somebody who went to the underfunded rural high school system vs the higher end capital high schools. Maybe the diff between someone born into an affluent household with lotsa books and parents who encouraged reading vs poorer ones where books were not readily available and were not part of the day-to-day life. For strength, it's more akin to the difference between someone who drives a cab or runs a cash register vs doing carpentry and hanging dry wall or even yard work for a living.Exaggerating my post for rhetorical effect isn't terribly helpful. Also, while I didn't mention STR dumps, I didn't exclude them either. I'm curious if you actually read my post, or if this is more of a knee jerk reaction, because what you say I said, and what I actually said really aren't the same. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, I believe I was pretty clear that my issue was a philosophical one about the feel of the characters created using the standard point buy system. Maybe I wasn't as clear as I hoped...
I think for some the "problem with the 8" stems in large part from the exaggeration of the 8.
A technique I tend to use, borrowed ages ago from "other systems" is to encourage the players to give one adjective for each plus or minus in stats.
"give the plus a name or a face"
This is like "puuting a face on the plot" as one is often encouraged to do in fiction.
So, two characters with a -1 Cha and -1 Str and +3 dex might get entirely different adjectives and be very different people in play. Its not uncommon for those adjdetives/descriptors to play a role in advsntage/disadvantage either.
Yeah, I know, some might object cuz its using stuff "from other game systems" and not playing 5e purely how they think the designers intended, but it works for us.