In relation to how my friend lizking10152011 I think spectator mode for the admin would suffice for moderation purposes if they should ever need to fly over to a point of interest, they do not need to be in creative mode to do that, but I do understand your point. But there are some things commands should still be useable for in non cheat servers and you're right there are other things that should be doable by them other than whitelist, and I am not talking about day and night cycle.

For example, telling the server software to do a backup or to load one in the event of file corruption or if somebody griefs a server that isn't anarchy.
DoFireTick false is done for very different reasons than Keep Inventory but they are treated as the same and are both considered cheats, when in reality, DoFireTick false gamerule command is generally used to make it harder for players to grief another player's builds by use of Flint and Steel or Lava etc. Granted for the time being, fire spread can be disabled in bedrock edition without disabling achievements, but for how long? content parity implies this soon won't be the case.

Mob Griefing also is a problem for build style players in survival as Sheep do destroy tall grass and Endermen do move dirt blocks about, even in peaceful where Endermen don't spawn Sheep are still able to trash your garden as these are not hostile mobs, so simply adjusting the difficulty doesn't solving the issue and some people may not want to change difficulty to peaceful because they feel it is cheating, even if you're playing in difficulties below hard and in it for the casual experience. And I didn't like it when the netherite hoe was removed from the Piglin bartering system either, instead what should have happened is the nerfing of the attack damage in response to the complaints about it being used as a weapon, so that it would encourage more players to use actual weapons instead.

Copper isn't really all that useful, except for making lightning rods which in truth is its only saving grace and even then there are many ways around lightning storms causing fires, such as not using flammable blocks and making sure your Villagers are sheltered. Drowned Zombies used to drop gold ingots when killed from time to time but now they don't, even after enchanted golden apples aka Notch apples became no longer craftable.


I would've been fine with the Drowned Zombies dropping copper ingots if copper were given more uses, such as motors for pulley systems and mineshaft elevators etc, but we do not currently have those, so I don't feel the existence of copper in the game is fully fleshed out yet, nor does lizking10152011 and some other players.


At least gold ore exists in the Nether now though, so depending on your perspective and I have come to appreciate it somewhat,
there are still ways to get enough gold for long distance travel minecart systems even without cheats or exploits in the game.