If Abrams and Co. really do bring a Ghost Palpatine to the film, then I imagine this sequel trilogy will suffer the same problems as the new Trek series: awkward, unnecessary tie-ins to the past which can turn off new viewers.
The past references don't turn off new viewers - they don't recognize that they're references, or at least, don't understand why they matter, until Abrams gives them a different in-movie context.
The people upset by references in the Star Trek movies are Star Trek fans. pre-existing ones.
Most everyone else either liked how they were remixed, or never caught it in the first place.
Looking at what he did with Star Trek is absolutely a decent idea if you want a sense of how he's going to handle the legacy aspects of this movie. Completely fair game.
edit: To be fair, audiences are likely to be more familiar with Star Wars references, and these movies aren't blatantly trying to garner completely new audiences, considering Star Wars' audience is already fucking massive, where Star Trek's has plateaued and declined by the time Abrams got it.
But considering the unending popularity of Family Guy, the idea that thoughtless references will actually hinder the popularity of the film seems naive.
(I don't think any references to past movies will be "thoughtless" at least not in any way that references to Star Wars made in Empire & Jedi were "thoughtless")
