For me, since it has been trained into me to spin as heavy as possible, I like thicker also. Since I am spinning, thicker allows me to control the ball with spin better.
Thinner may better for hitting flat.
BTW: thicker should give more cushioning and more dampening. So, thicker should not really be faster unless you use it for spinning the ball and use the rebound of the rubber for spin (mechanical spin). But maybe what people mean is that, because there is more sponge, you can swing harder and if the effort goes into spinning the ball to enough of an extent, you will get a faster shot that will still arc and land on the table.
Otherwise, on a flat hit, thinner should actually be faster. There are videos that show this.