I agree this is a very useful feature, I use it on all exits. But it only makes sense if DirPort is running on port 80, otherwise nobody will just try the IP address with :randomport in their browsers until they see a working web page.
this is why I wrote: "In that case tor should warn (logfiles) if DirPort is not enabled or not on port 80"
Also note that since some time BEGIN_DIR is used, so relays serve directory data via their ORPorts, thus not making DirPort mandatory if you want to serve directory data. The long-term plan is to entirely use ORPort, so relays will need 1 single port to run for both Tor traffic and Tor directory data, making things easier to configure in firewalls, less data in our consensus documents, etc.
I hope tor will retain the DirFrontPage functionality past the day where DirPorts are needed - so exit operators don't have to install additional services.
I think it's simpler if this is pushed to the operator's control,
can you elaborate on what you mean with 'simpler' in this context?
to do it at their own choice. Maybe one wants to run a webserver and show that page, or even more advanced statistics like bw usage, etc. Maybe one wants to add his company banner, or etc. Making this optional and configurable at operator side makes sense, since it's hard to come up with some sane defaults that will just work outside the box for everyone.
we are not arguing against keeping things configurable (as they are currently) the suggestion was to change the defaults