For the artist, who's been self taught through this whole thing, and surrounded by people with a clue the counter (at least in my gallery) gave me an idea of how well I did... because I am ever critical of myself as I would imagine most artists to be, and what renders at a glance had something that may have needed improving upon. Without the 'at a glance', I may as well be posting anywhere and guessing at the number of hits... too slowly learning from whatever mistakes I've made to make my hits not so high, and too slow to improve upon them. For me, it's not an ego thing... not wholly, it's a tool. Please put them back.