The methods are always(?) easily available by either by clicking the link, or sometimes the pdf versions contain everything. For one of my latest papers the full methods were much, much longer than allowed word count.

If the argument is that methods section should be excluded from the word count, then I’m good with that. Not every field is like data science. But also, science communication is important; your papers should be a story, even the methods papers! (Why are you doing the work? Why should anyone care?)