To each, his own. However, even when oil is changed often as to now allow the filter to have excessive build up of debris....I can't help but wonder that the adhesives in the filter, the bypass valve, or even the media itself wouldn't have some sort of degradation over that length of time / miles.
I was wondering the same as you but after seeing lots of great photos of various Ultras I decided to run it for 4 years with just drain & refills.