What about kicking? He could still use his legs, right?

Finally, somebody understands what the hell I've been complaining about all this time; if certain acts of violence are allowed yet others are not, the premise becomes a joke.
"All these squares make a circle."

While I hear both sides of the debate, and a fight can still be well choreographed without having Spider-Man throw punches, what I struggle to comprehend is why they have made it a matter of philosophical principle.
Webbing a brick, (or a manhole cover) and slamming it into someone is NOT in any way less violent or less dangerous than a punch nor is swing kicking someone to Timbuktu. This is exactly what Spidey did to Falcon in Civil War when he swung into the terminal in pursuit of Falc and Winter Soldier.
Falcon, should anyone need reminding, is a normal non-enhanced human who's powers and abilities are pretty much as close to the Vulture as you can get. So presumably Spidey would be OK with kicking the tar out of Vulture but not punch him? Sound's like really bizarre logic to me, but whatever.

This isn't a dealbreaker but it's ridiculous. Now this is going to nag at people's minds. Couldn't they just have said nothing?

I'll have to disagree with you on that. Some of us pick up on subtleties in choreography that others don't.
"All these squares make a circle."

Yeah and people try to compare this to the lack of punching in the 90s Spider-man cartoon. That show's action sequences had problems, but the lack of punching was really a minor one. The show's stiff animation meant that Spider-man couldn't even move like Spider-man.
There's a difference between not punching due to censorship and having it as an artistic decision.
Its amazing how people hang around message boards of movies they dont like

Wow that is such a non-issue that it's staggering. I mean, who cares? I doubt anyone'll even notice unless he actively says "I'm not punching you!!".

Yeah, I remember when I first heard about this I almost thought how stupid it would be
But then I remembered the game Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions, and remembered how the 616 fought, instead of throwing punches, he would actually use his webs, grabbing objects or ripping up the ground and beating up enemies that way If they went that route, I would be impressed

But yes, it does bothers me that Spidey doesn't punch anyone but I don't think thats gonna be permanent.
What Marvel is doing is touching on Peter Parker's high school year where he's still a rookie and not confident in pulling his punches. In Civil War he didn't punch anyone but his action sequence was awesome.

On a surely unrelated note, I've always thought Raimi's trilogy is superior to Webb's duo.
"All these squares make a circle."

or it could be dramatic license.
Which in and of itself is a writing flaw. There's no reason he shouldn't be able to be knocked out by all those punches. Much less not get hurt by them. It's like they just wanted to make Doc Ock invincible.
1, 2 Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door.

or it could be dramatic license.
imo

With enough time for remembrance, I could list for you hundreds and hundreds of blows to the head in movies and TV shows which should knock people out yet don't.
"All these squares make a circle."

Or it could be because he was holding back
Except it still should have knocked him out.
1, 2 Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door.

This message has been deleted.

As much as I liked SM2, Spidey punching Doc Ock so much didn't make any sense. Because Ock really shouldn't have been able to take all of those blows.
Some people therorize that he couldn't be knocked out because of the AI in his tentacles having taken over his brain.
1, 2 Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door.

As much as I liked SM2, Spidey punching Doc Ock so much didn't make any sense. Because Ock really shouldn't have been able to take all of those blows.
Its amazing how people hang around message boards of movies they dont like

I'm pretty sure he punched Harry at the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Maybe, I don't remember it. I remember him doing flips and stuff but not punching.

Marc Webb's Spider-Man also did not punch his villains. I think he only punched Lizard once, and that it's it. Raimi's Spider-Man, on the other hand, was beating the crap out of his villains all the time.
I'm pretty sure he punched Harry at the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2.
1, 2 Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door.

http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1583060/why-spider-man-wont-actually-punch-villains-in-homecoming
Marc Webb's Spider-Man also did not punch his villains. I think he only punched Lizard once, and that it's it. Raimi's Spider-Man, on the other hand, was beating the crap out of his villains all the time.

I actually really like this decision. How is this in any way a "mistake"? No, seriously.

Spidey loves to punch badguys
imo

let's say Spider-Man is a hair's breadth away from defeating Vulture, but can't bring himself to punch him in order to do so and it ends up costing him, say, a civilian life. That might be the most laughable form of tension I have ever seen in a superhero movie.
It seems like the easy solution would be to not write the internal struggle of "to punch or not to punch" into the movie. Instead, they could just write the movie to dictate the fight scenes take place in other ways where the audience wouldn't expect that a punch is the only possible solution to take down the villain.
I agree with another poster in this thread who said that if this article didn't come out, the audience probably wouldn't even notice the absence of punches.