@double-beep Nope, I'm not sure about that one. I'd suggest using git's or GitHub's blame to see when it was added and look in the transcript in here to see if there was any discussion about it at the time.
@double-beep Looks like it was added during a spam wave on Stack Overflow, reducing the number of rooms into which reports for SO were posted, which resulted in a reduction in chat rate limiting. IMO, it should have been removed after that spam wave ended.