Inb4lock. Wasn't there just a thread or two about this?
Well, I haven't posted in any of them, so I'll post my insights here:
I take it that most people at this forum are at least teenagers, so they have probably been with the Pokemon series since they were younger, maybe even when the Indigo League season (first season) was still the new thing. That's how I am. The writers of Pokemon aren't still marketing to us, I don't think. They're marketing toward that same age group. As we get older and more aware, we notice Ash and the others haven't really aged so it makes us wonder, but younger kids that are picking up on the Pokemon anime now don't care about that (unless they've also seen the old ones via reruns or the internet, and even at that I don't know if they care).
Also, unless something specific has been said, I think Ash looks more like he's 12 now. In Misty's guest appearances, she seems a little more mature, and since Brock was already fairly old, to younger kids, the difference between 16 and 18 doesn't seem like much.
Let either more debate or thread locking ensue!