You answer yourself pretty much – “hidden” does not mean removed. It still works.
And yes, the reason would be backwards compatibility which is considered absolute priority in WP. See #21307 Remove Link Manager from core for context and discussion.
You answer yourself pretty much – “hidden” does not mean removed. It still works.
And yes, the reason would be backwards compatibility which is considered absolute priority in WP. See #21307 Remove Link Manager from core for context and discussion.