I'm glad someone raised this issue.

Though I understand everyone's position, it doesn't offend me at all. Though it has become more politically correct to call them locs and not dreads, I use both terms. Though some folks use to the terms to distinguish cultivated locs from ones that are born out of neglect, the average person is not going to know that difference, nor should they care. If a person tells me I have nice dreds, I say thanks and keep going. They could be saying or doing worse things to me. In the end it's not worth the time nor energy to get offended when someone calls them dreds. Many years ago, I used to get very turned off by people who wanted to exist in their natural state (wearing locs, fros, etc..) who would sweat the small stuff. When they tried to correct every word and phrase from a well-intentioned person, they came off as self-righteous and arrogant; thus they failed miserably at their goal, which was to "educate." If the person is paying a compliment or refers to the hair in a non-threatening manner as dreds, I know they mean no harm. Our self esteem is high enough to deal with that because we're wearing this style now. We know that they're not dreadful, and that will come across in how we carry ourselves. People will never stop calling them dreds. We will remove the "dread" from dreadlocks when we show people how powerful, regal, and sexy they are when we proudly sport them. That's what is going to remove the stigma. Constantly correcting people will not. Now, if dem call mi "dutty locs," "######################## locs," or "umfufu," I will have to verbally kick their a$$.
Educate those who truly want to know the difference, but it's not worth the effort to correct everyone.