> The data lines weren't used for charging until fairly recently.
Several proprietary protocols (like Quick Charge) used the data lines to negotiate the power and voltage, then USB Battery Charging standardized a way to indicate being a charger through the data lines, and that was all before USB-C. So unless you were satisfied with very slow charging, the data lines were always necessary.
Al of those people may not be up to date, or you may be seeing old discussions.