Well, someone must have hijacked my account as well cause I also agree with Daggerheart.
CraWleR, I think your brothers either didn't understand those rules or just didn't like them, but you were definitely taught incorrectly. And as a house rule among you, you can do whatever you want.
That thread of BGG was started by someone who can't seem to get his family to understand the rules correctly, and while it's possible he's just teaching it badly, I have a feeling his family just can't handle the game very well. I don't think this site should change rules because there's some non-gamers out there who can't handle something. It's not that I think everyone who plays here should be able to handle every game, of any level, but rather that if you can't handle the level of the game, maybe it's not something you should be playing, rather than dummying down the game.
That said, I don't have an issue with minor tweaks to the rules that are options (and I'm all for options), but I think removing the farmers is a major change that is too integral part of the game and shouldn't be removed even as an option. And
adding expansions or other options isn't really the same thing. We're talking about a drastic change to the base game.
And I definitely don't think that should happen just because someone initially learned the game incorrectly. (Perhaps you should check and see why you were taught incorrectly?)
(Once again proving why I prefer to just read the rules for myself....)