So the use of a hanging rope with knots on a slab creates issues for me. Ie how many bolts does that translate to? I have used this method in the past for leading a route. Where the route was steep or vertical it is difficult to add knots on the way up as you are hanging on one handed. Not impossible but difficult. On a slab you can add a knot if the climbing suddenly feels too runout. Knowing the rope is there, that you can grab it in worst case scenario reduces the mental stress.
So I don’t know about the first ascent, this is just my experience. My main point is still that the route has now been climbed a lot in its current form . Some think the route runout but others think the opposite. So stripping bolts from the route now is to the comfort level of the person removing the bolts. This is difficult to measure against the starting point which was no bolts or an uncertain number of equivalent bolts. Just counting the original knots is not an accurate comparison.”