1. It acts as a goal to reach, expecially if you are a newcomer, I remember as a kid I always wanted to reach the page and it gave me a lot more motivation to draw and upload.

2:.it acts as a place to see higher quality art, and to see what other people liked.

3. It allowed some users to become famous and well know among the app. The featured page already does this, but not many uploads get to there.

4. It just feels like a bit less of a community without a place to gather around.

I feel it has much more upsides than downsides, although I can't think of too many downsides.

Could you explain your reasoning for removing it so I can understand?

Also sorry for the late reply.