I actually agree with this one. Sure, caring about it on a level some do is idiotic, but I bet I'm not the only one who likes to know that someone read my post, doesn't matter if it's a medal or tophat. Their point is to tell your opinion on someone's take without shitting up the thread, it's a form of social interaction.
It's like removing phone calls because "messangers are more popular anyway". Calls and messengers can co-exist, talking in threads, giving stickers and knowing that you received stickers can co-exist too.