I LOVE IT!
I use it against the big Threat Level 4 Corvettes and Condas all the time. Using my Corvette, I take every opportunity they offer to head straight for them and BOOST just before impact! Nothing takes their shields down to nothing faster! Depending on my own shield strength at the time, I might also fire off a SCB from one of my two 7A SCB launchers just before impact.
I also will Ram them every chance I get as well. I find it a really fun kind of Jousting technique, but you obviously need a pretty robust ship to pull it off without blowing yourself up in the process!
Its a totally justifiable technique, used for centuries by armies/navies through time if they had the equipment to pull it off. Many a classic Sci-Fi novel has offered up thrilling accounts of space combat that involved ramming into the enemy ship. Nothing more dramatic and fearless! [up]
So spare me the "It isn't a viable tactic for space combat" meme. According to who pray tell?
Sounds like the OP needs stronger shields and maybe a bigger/stronger ship? Then you can turn this behavior into an advantage and reduce the amount of time you spend taking these guys out.
I hope they never remove this behavior. NPC combat would be incredibly boring and predictable without it.
I'm tempted to buy the new Raider Pack for my Corvette, since it totally goes with the combat style I use with this ship.