Okay... Here's the thing. I have messed with lotsa stuff since childhood so I know a thing or two and let me clear the air:

1. Doom maps aren't 3D meshes in the sense that we know 3D meshes
2. However they contain height data, this height data is what makes them render 3D-like
3. The reason we have these models is because tools that map builders use can export these as models based on height data - they can convert the height data into proper 3d height and export it as such. So yeah, these are not manually build stuff but simple exports afaik.
There is also the fact that renderers such as OpenGL requires everything to be vertex and interpret them as such so yea. Any GL Based Doom port converts the data into proper 3D mesh to render actually.

Suffice to say both sides are not incorrect.

@Peardian Doom doesn't use polygons to draw it's walls or floors

@Peardian if that's what we're gonna go with then i might as well start ripping wolfenstein maps, given they're just defined with a basic series of tilemaps that define boxes and their corresponding textures :P

but can it run on a pickle jar?

@VlumptyVonty: If the maps are stored as data that can be interpreted by the game into 3D vertex coordinates and textured polygons, then what are they, if not 3D models? What makes them not models?

Minecraft character models are defined with simple JSONs that give box dimensions and texture coordinates. Common DAE models are defined using XML, the same technology that websites are made with. What makes them more of a model than Doom's maps?

@Mongee No, not even on modern sourceports. I map for Doom. They're not models

can doom run on a grain of rice?

People who watched a Youtube video that told them a fun fact are really taking themselves super serious, huh? They are models.

@traumatizedgeworth maybe not the original version, but Doom had actually several ports and remasters, so maybe any modern ports used real 3D models?

@Peardian the maps in doom are not stored as models, any doom mapper can tell you that

srb2 moment

@16-Bit Globe: These sure look like 3D geometrical data to me, with texturing and everything.

@shadowman44 they're not even models, so i'm not sure what the point of ripping them here is

Huh, I had no idea the maps were even stored as models.

So many time play this game.