Again this bogus statistics gameplay. Jeez .....u had used same logic for removing support desk/ticket which everyone said, it's working fine.
Anything that you want to remove, use the stats card. Without plugins, I wouldn't use IPS because IPS Nexus/Commerce can't even do basic donation tracking which every community needs.
We love IPS and many are here since V2,V3 or even before versions... but with V5, it feels you want to go pro-cloud, make it standard for all and remove features which you think are not required without having 2nd thought for what your customer needs.
Why you need to push us to XF man..... I am not touching vB for sure.. so only choice XF for me.