On our mission to reduce cognitive overload, the first dot in view list items have no important use.
I already remove them using custom CSS in my browser.
The expand/collapse icon could appear when it contains child items.
For those that like this list item decoration, there could be an (non-default) option to add it in the field settings of the view.
+1 for this (sorry can’t vote). It makes sense for this to appear only when there are child elements. Currently turning off the database icon field has no effect. It would be great if turning it off would hide the icon until child elements are present
Ditto. No more votes left. 
For some situations, the colour can help identify the type (if the list view has multiple types showing at the same level).
Yeah, that’s not great
This would be most ideal for our clients. Because sometimes it is helpful, sometimes it isn’t.
So +1 for make them optional!