This is true enough, although a scoring system of some kind is here to stay IMO, so with that in mind, why not make it practical and accurate as much as possible. With this said, I believe IF the scoring system were to be removed, many many players would leave the game. They enjoy some form of consistent measure of progress! Waiting around for a possible encounter with the old guard just doesn't cut it for todays modern gamers, which incidently is who dominently populates the game now! I guess my main point is, a new era of sim gaming is at hand, might as well try and get some of the gaminess out now if possible. Cause with most things that don't work and are not addressed, they just continue on in there obvious uselessness! Just look at your government! 
Statistics provide almost all of the measure of progress or improvement that matters, and the input of your true peers, if you are truly an enthusiast and lover of the game, will provide the rest. Again, score gains you nothing, especially if you are not one of the very few listed for a few days on the front page. And score combined with ranking means little, especially since we know that any scoring system can and will be manipulated, and as such it provides no real honest measure of anything.
I do not believe anyone who really wants to play or fly will leave if they remove score, ranking, and the display of such on the front page.
Further, the practices of the so called "modern gamer" playing for score are diametrically opposed to the very things that serve to promote good fights and game play. It is in fact those very things that should not be encouraged under any circumstances.
You may not believe that or understand it. But here is why. To change the main dynamic of the game to best suit and support newcomers does not build or support a solid player base. It only serves to build a high rate of turn over. In the business world, it is FAR cheaper to keep existing customers than it is to seek and gather new ones. The need for growth does necessitate the seeking of new customers. But not at the expense of current customers. What happens when you seek new customers at the expense of your current customers, especially the long term solid customer base, is that you drive off good solid customers in hopes of gaining new ones. Then you have a high percentage of those new customers only stay for the short term, then leave. By that time, your long time sold customers are gone, most likely never to return, so both a large portion of new customers are gone, AND a large portion of the old solid long time customers are gone as well. It results in a net loss, and recovery from that can be very difficult, if not impossible. Many businesses have failed for just this reason. Many sports have either died off, or fallen by the wayside for just that reason.
How do I know this? I myself own a small business, and have managed others. I also have been part of some of those sports as well. I have seen all of those things first hand, and know exactly how it works.
One other thing. The combat flight sim genre is something different, all its own. It has not ever worked the way other games have, and if it is ever forced to, it is doomed to die off when it is no longer the new "in game" of choice. This thing we call AH II is not a fad, it is not new. To force it to act and work like a new fad would be to destroy it.
