Q:

Should I use the spelling reforms of 1990?

I once asked a question using several reformed spellings, but they were edited out. Comments on a recent answer of mine claimed that the reforms have failed, but my dictionary says they are implemented in school curriculae in Switzerland, Belgium, and Quebec. Has the French world accepted these spellings?

A:

TL;DR : You have every right to use them, but you might get unpleasant comments about it.
Long version :
The spelling recommendations of 1990 have always been criticized and frowned upon in France. 
Part of it is due to the media and their oversimplification : a lot of people still think that these recommendations are supposed to replace the traditional spellings, and that they recommend to write éléfant instead of éléphant ! 
There's also some kind of a conservative spirit concerning the French language : there are people who think that our language should not evolve and that it should stay the way it was centuries ago « when people knew how to write properly ».
In fact, most people don't even notice that they are using new spellings everyday : the word « événement » (traditional spelling) is often written « évènement » and no one even bats an eye !
Still, these recommendations have been introduced in the major French dictionaries and should be accepted as correct, and most of the comments you'll get from using these spellings will come from people unaware of their existence.
P.S : A very interesting article from the Académie Française was published two years ago after an umpteenth controversy about it :
http://www.academie-francaise.fr/actualites/lacademie-francaise-et-la-reforme-de-lorthographe

