I think it's just a what-you're-used-to thing. I don't ride hardtail much. I've been riding almost all full rigid since the '80s. I ride a road bike with 28mm tires on gravel roads quite a bit. Ride intermediate MTB trails on full rigid bikes, all kindsa fun stuff like that.

Suspension fork on road, even rough road, for me, just means slightly slower, slightly less precise steering.

If I was riding rough stuff at night like you're talking about on the OP's bike I'd be more worried about all the rear rims I'd be destroying by not being able to bunnyhop unseen potholes and the like.

To each his own.