It has also been frequently buffed.
- the T2 Shortrange Ammo change gave Gankers +15% damage at point blank range.
- when initially introduced, they could wait under Tether, being pre-aligned to the gate and Nobody could do anything about. Thank god that has been removed again, but thats not a ‘nerf’, it is just the removal of a former advantage
- they can use staging stations very close to gates with the undock-alignment pointing right towards the gate they make their ganks on, allowing them to stay docked and in case the scout reports something to undock and instawarp. Something that wasn’t possible before Upwell structures, because NPC stations and POSes usually are way more far away and didn’t allow for such convenience
- Security tags were introduced to enable them to gank without suffering the consequences of being an outlaw. One of the biggest buffs to ganking ever, you can just calculate the costs for the tags into your gank and you will always make guaranteed profits while still enjoing all the benefits of HS that a law-abiding-citizen would. And its used widespread for exactly that reason.
So, while it is debatable if those “buffs” offset the “nerfs”, the picture to draw that ganking has “only been nerfed over the years” isn’t true.