You are still running a node. You just don't participate in routing.

I would see it like not everyone has what it takes to be a miner, but running a full node is easy.

But good question. Maybe someone who has thought more about this can chime in.

That is the feedback, I've been getting as well. 
Wouldn't this, however, show that there is a problem somewhere when running a node is not worth the effort?

swmtr

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saloon

When you notice it's not worth the effort running a routing node, it makes more sense to just run a private node only for yourself (or maybe family and friends).

I actually thought about first starting with a private node and then later with more knowledge decide about running a routing node.