Pulling framed sites together with the required page in the main frame doesn't require anything from the serverside. It's all done with javascript.
Stats are what people make of them. If people want to boost their egos by counting hits, they can do. People who are interested in reality count visitor sessions or even unique visitors. For people who count hits, frames make their figures look better
Frames should be used as and when they are the best solution. I make a decent living from one framed site. I designed it in frames years ago. Since then, I've considered taking it out of frames but it just isn't suited to being non-framed, and many sites are like that. Many sites that are best suited to frames are designed out of frames for no apparent reason other than some people are against frames. To that, I say that nobody is against frames.
We wouldn't like it very much if the entire browser or Word program scrolled off up the screen every time we wanted to see the bottom. All sizable program are framed because it makes sense to design them that way. Websites are no different - if it makes sense to use frames, use them; if it doesn't make sense, don't use them.