Wasn't Judo much more exciting back when decision wins (hantei) existed?

Although there were victims of referee manipulation like Cho Jun-ho, at least players would attempt to attack rather than just standing still to gain an advantage in the decision, so I feel like the tension was at least maintained.
And when they decided to settle it by raising flags during the decision process, even I, who wasn't a participant in the match, would get nervous... especially in games that resulted in a 2:1 decision..