A related request:
Actual Size View not to depend on Artboard (do not zoom AND center)
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/42751058

Sipke, I know exactly what you mean.
Indeed, some things WERE changed. The intentions were good, but these lead to most of scripts that were designed for working with artboards to become flawed. In short, previously Ai allowed only ONE artboard selected at any time. Today, Ai allows many to be selected, to allow pasting on chosen ones ( https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32146360 )... but the team forgot to allow scripts to select artboards!

The report is here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/50230332
Please upvote!

This workaround from 'onthehead' has worked in serval illustrator versions, but since version 29.7 it shows some strange behavior. For example if you copy somthing from artboard 1 and the went to artboard 3 with the script (so 2 times Next Artboard hotkey) and you paste the object it is placed on artboad 3 and 1. Something has chandged in ilustrator and the script places the item two times (the original location and the new location). The scripts from 'onthehead' are still from 2019 and there are no updates available. And since the Admin from this forum (Egor) knows alot... is there somewere else an alternative scipt or workaround in the current 29.8 and 30. Hoping to hear!

I am not against having this option, I upvoted it after all.

But I think 'consistency for the sake of consistency' is a dangerous path.
InDesign’s pages are not Illustrator’s artboards (although artboards can be used as pages).
Artboards are more like viewports, frames that can overlap, nest, easily have various sizes, while in InDesign it takes some effort to introduce a page with custom dimensions. This is the same reason 'layers' and 'artboards' are two parallel structures (unlike frames in Figma).

There is a request about it, BTW:
Artboard-specific Layers — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31133392

So these don’t look like ducks and don’t quack like ducks, therefore no parity — initially. Just a different paradigm.
Still I need an option to keep the zoom level!
And I really want Ai to not zoom into a newly created page as well, like it’s been before it got changed:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/45689917

Indesign keeps the zoom level when navigating to a new page or editing an attribute of a page via the pages panel - why does illustrator act differently? UI parity should be a pursuit of the teams.

K-O, there are users who are completely OK with that auto-zoom approach. Some of them just don’t care, some are really into it.
I’d use both, as I do have different designs. But as I see it, the 'additional zoom to fit' should bee optional, only when I intend to.

The status of it is unknown. 14 votes it currently has usually not enough to push a request above others, with higher vote count... This, again, can signal that not enough of us users care :( We need more attention for it.

What is the status here?

I have never once desired the current action: double-click on artboard in the artboard panel and the screen zooms into that artboard. I have always wanted to maintain my current zoom level. It's jolting and disruptive.

I think its the opposite of the inherent function of that panel.
Think about the typical reasons why a user would be using the artboard panel. They would be managing assets from a birds eye view. Managing being an ongoing process - not ending after you click on one board (initiating the zoom)

Are there any users out there that actually benefit from the current automatic zoom action?

Yes, I need this please. As Helga said, it's a real pain to have to zoom back out every time when there are several artboards to rename. I would be happy with an option to turn the zoom-in OFF in Preferences.

The option to not have Illustrator automatically zoom in on an artboard when moving them around in the panel is critical. You have to constantly manually zoom out to see all the artboards.

As for now, we can use these scripts to jump between artboards with the zoom level kept: https://onthehead.com/#cat-ais-view
I mapped these to Wn + PageUp/Down hotkeys using an external utility, works for me.

Dave, there is workaround I can offer, a free set of custom scripts by 3flab:
https://onthehead.com/ais/
Scroll down to View section.
You can wrap these into actions and use instead of native hotkeys.
They are now perfect, but worth trying.
Please comment back if they help and how does it differ from what you want.

Looking for a way to move to the same zoomed in area on each artboard. I work for a major sports apparel manufacturer and use multi-artboards every day. We are make revisions frequently. Artwork is zoomed in to see complete picture because some of these details/revisions are small. Artwork instance is in the same location on every artboard.

There is a workaround we can use, with a set of scripts:
https://onthehead.com/ais/ — scroll down to View section
Display next/prev artboard in center
Display neighbor artboard in center
Display first/last artboard in center

Not exactly that, but does the trick. Unfortunately, this is not that fast as native commands. Still worth trying.

Navigating artboards with hotkeys at the current zoom level.

Yes to navigating artboards at the current zoom level!

I would like it to work in the same manner as InDesign works with pages/spreads. When you navigate between pages (that would be artboards in Illustrator) with shortcuts or mouse buttons, the zoom is maintained. If you double-click on a certain page (artboard) in the panel, it becomes active and Fits in Window.

It would be very helpful to get this option to choose - it's very painful to name & sort a big number of artboards and it keeps zooming into the just named, then having to zoom out again etc.

No.
There should be an OPTION to make it work that way, because some people USE current behaviour.

I would use both, depending on task.
So I vote for this, but only as an option. Not a DEFAULT option.

Zoom level should be maintained when switching between artboards, whether it be by clicking between them in the Artboards panel, CMD+PgUp / CMD+PgDwn or in the status bar.