Indeed. It was never added for realism. The single major reason was the remove a rule that many players were being sanctioned for.
This wasn't to reduce admin workload either; it was to stop players from being sanctioned and non-rule breaking players from being disadvantaged when attacked by rule breaking players.
If I wanted more realism (which incidentally I see as more fun), I'd make ships require fuel to move and use jump holes, better Newtonian physics (no drag) and stuff like this.
Proud member of "the most paranoid group of people in the community"