people whinned about fed elections because irresponsible people would start a fed, invite someone in, that person had malintentions, they get planets, elect them self leader, disband the fed, and the fed members where not unified enough to simply start a new fed.
Anaboliking used to be a hard core strategy in old fans, and a little fun toy to hit new feds. The first fed I was in got anaboliked, so I caught up with the people that did it a month or two later and anaboliked their fed.
No matter what, people whine. The few dozen that whine about making the game easier, simpler, less complicated, and more boring are the ones that are listened too, while the several thousand that want improvements and new material are ignored.