Because it’s one of the most prolific OSS projects on the web, and hosts more than 40% of websites (and that number was growing until a year or two ago)? It was pretty sensible when it was created compared to other CMSes of the day! So “never sensible” is probably an exaggeration, if even massive, massive sites like nasa.gov are using it.
But putting its merits to the side, people firstly love drama and love sharing their opinions about contentious situations. And secondly, hopefully there are lessons to be learned for other OSS projects and other founders about how NOT to handle this kind of situation.