How long do you think it takes to remove an undefended large tower in high sec ?
Assume a small corp. 20 people in it at most. Be sure to consider what they want a high sec POS for, and what that implies about their trained skills.

How do you plan to keep the attacking pilots paying enough attention during the attack that they can respond to the defenders showing up ?

How much do high sec merc groups charge for removing an offline large tower ?

Why should someone who is unwilling, or unable, to fuel a POS be able to claim a moon and stop someone who is willing and able to fuel a POS from setting up their own ?

Or, in the extreme case: Why should someone who is not even subscribed to Eve be able to claim moons for himself ?

If you don't answer my question, I'll just assume you realize that giving an honest answer would be devastating for your argument.

Are you saying you think that people should be able to earn ISK with no risk, and no input on their part ?

Because that's what offline high sec towers are. You just plant the tower, then wait for someone to want the moon enough to pay for it. Worst case, you just recover the tower and sell it to get your ISK back. Should someone war dec you, and actually start attacking the POS you can wait till boredom has defeated them, then swing by in a single ship and start popping attackers.

Are there any high sec merc groups willing to take out a high sec POS ?

Does it make a difference if you can convince the mercs that everyone in the corp that owns the POS isn't subscribed ?

This. IMHO after a tower has had no fuel for a week it should lose the ability to go into reinforce and lose its bubble and everything.

Ideally, hack tower, remove everything, salvage tower for salvage, profit.

Why are some people so resistant to alternatives to structure bashing? It's strange...

Shooting a POS that has been abandoned is not fighting.

Your logic is totally backwards. How about they actually fuel up their damn POS or lose it without a fight? I mean they have claimed that moon, so it should be their responsibility to maintain it. If they don't they should lose it. The game shouldn't force others to wardec them or send them any notice when the POS they can't be bothered with maintaining is hacked (which should totally be doable with any offline POS). That's just rewarding laziness and/or incompetency in my opinion.

POSs are to be defended by fleets, not CONCORD.

If a corp is too lazy to fuel their POS so that it reinforces they deserve to lose that POS without warning.

Having a mechanic whereby anchored POSs naturally decay or can be removed (this is EVE, stealing is not only allowed, but encouraged) for profit is a logical step.

If players won't defend their tower (and leave it to CONCORD, or aren't willing to fuel it) they should lose it. Thats just a fact.

If everyone left the ISS and never returned, it would fall into the Earth in a multi-billion dollar crater. Same logic applies to EVE, if you won't maintain your stuff, you lose your stuff.

Your entire argument hinges on "I'm not willing to defend something, but you won't fight me for it." If you won't fight for it (fuel it so it RFs) why can't I steal it?

Theft is very EVE, there's no denying that.

And I'm still waiting for you to explain why being lazy and/or incompetent should be rewarded by arbitrary game mechanics.

Fine, let me rephrase: If someone can't be bothered to defend their tower by fueling it and insuring a stront timer, they will lose it.

Reason to claim someone's stuff without a fight: there doesn't need to be one. If someone leaves a couch by the side of the road its a free for all, first to the couch can keep it. The owner of the dead tower no longer wants it (as was evidenced by their abandoning it) so why should I fight for something nobody else wants?

I think the better question is why should players be forced to shoot a structure that nobody cares about? Its like grinding regions of Sov after the war is over, its completely unnecessary.

This question has already been answered. If a group chooses to not refuel their POS they relinquish their claim to it in my eyes.

Beyond that, we don't all have capital fleets to vaporize POS's in a blink, especially in wormholes. Being able to salvage dead sticks rather than being forced to bash them for hours to remove them is so obviously superior gameplay-wise I don't even know what to say to your inability to see it.