What drives a poor reputation for the Rogue class?

[Kurald Galain]

unlike what many people seem to think, nothing in the rules, ever has really excluded other player characters as a target for stealing and backstabbing.

I'm not so sure about all the PHBs and DMGs throughout the decades, but I will note that the various public campaigns (e.g. LG, LFR, PFS) have always had a big boldfaced rule of "No PVP."