[quote=Theodorable]
Stats are a good concrete measurement of objectivity. Why are people so opposed to them?
[/quote]
In my opinion, their too impersonal and game-like to work with the standard forum RP. A properly Role-played character or nation is more complex than any amount of stats or skills can express, and I personally dislike being limited in my ability to role-play my character as I see fit by a sequence of representative numbers.

Ultimately, it's just a matter of personal preference. I myself don't enjoy RPing with stats, but I know that quite a few others do. In the case of a NRP, a good alternative that was used on the Bethesda Forum was getting a general vote in the OOC for the outcome of a situation. If I may use a battle for an example, assuming there is no absolutely clear victor, each participant would present their battleplans on the OOC and the non-biased RPers for the situation would democratically decide the outcome. Alternatively, each participant in the battle would PM their battleplans to the GM (or preferably a small go up of Co-GMs, to keep things more fair) and the GM(s) would decide the outcomes themselves.

In things other than battle, it's usually enough to just have everyone do whatever they want in the IC until someone protests someone's actions in the OOC. After the issue is brought up, a popular or GM vote ensues and a decision is made (usually in the form of a nerf). Anyway, those are just a couple of suggestions for alternatives to stats and the like.