What in the world sparked this discussion? You can't ban Stealth Rock because it cripples some Pokemon. You would have to ban every phasing move because it cripples set-up. You would have to ban Toxic because it hurts walls. You would need to ban U-Turn because it penalizes Psychic types.
Banning Stealth Rock is arbitrary. You're drawing a line and saying "I want this move gone because it hurts something I don't want to be hurt. I want special treatment to make sure these Pokemon are not hurt." Every Pokemon's viability is helped or hurt by the inclusion of every relevant move. Stealth Rock is no different. You can make the argument for most any good move. "I want Stone Edge gone because of it's scary attacking type. Rock STAB and coverage just hurts the viability of too many Pokemon and QuakeEdge only exacerbates the issue." It's ludicrous.
The entirety of the argument is useless because the reality is that we have it and arguing in a thread trying to uncover more data is not going to help push your case.
I realize that Stealth Rock isn't getting banned. There are enough people who agree with you.
I just strongly disagree with your views. To me, Stealth Rock is a special case because its effects are
constant. We're talking about a move that requires a 1-time use, with the easiest set up in the world, which then has a huge impact on the game for the remainder of the entire battle.
In Gen 5, I thought Weather was Overpowered, and it defined the metagame too much.
But while GameFreak realized their mistake with Weather and nerfed it, I believe they missed the boat with Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock might be fair if it only lasted for 5 turns. But to have it last for the duration of the game, and only have a few select Pokemon that can counter it - which even then puts the person trying to counter it at a disadvantage - just makes it too overpowered.
Stealth Rock is used in 90%+ of Pokemon battles, and its effects last for every move of the entire games. And its effects are
significant, not minor. And it definitely creates an entire population of Pokemon that are not viable solely because of Stealth Rock.
Honestly, comparing Stealth Rock to moves like Stone Edge, Earthquake, U-Turn and Toxic is downright silly in my opinion.
I just feel that this kind of game-breaking advantage with a 1-turn set up that a ton of Pokemon has access to puts it in a unique position.
When the words
"Stealth Rock" appear on the battle screen above 30 times per game is nearly every single... sorry, but that's just wrong. It's a disservice to the game.