It would be different if this was a "feature" that had been this way forever and and we wish it would finally be fixed to make the site more usable.

It is not. It is something they just decided add, while the rest of their house was burning down around them. This was a deliberate, under direction change that was initiated for a reason and given programming priority. Think about all of the problems on the site that have needed fixing for a while. This gets on the list and gets done.

That is what is infuriating. It worked and they broke it. On purpose.