There is a perception in the community (justified or otherwise) that the MD-8x series is unsafe, just like there was with the DC-10.
What community?
I flew the -80 for a while and I don't fly unsafe airplanes.
The -10 did have some problems but before you classify it as an unsafe airplane, you may want to run that by a lot of the 'freight dogs' (said with utmost respect for those guys) who haul freight worldwide in -10s.