No no, I figured that out afterwards, in a past development iteration someone added it on purpose and then forgot all about it - "oh yeah we needed that to <solve some mundane problem>".

So... worse than subterfuge? That being said it only listened on the local socket, so it's slightly less bad, and I don't want to get into the myriad of correct ways that original problem could have been solved, but lets just say that company doesn't exist anymore.

I admire your restraint in writing this comment. :)

This is one of the very finest comments I have ever seen on HN (or anywhere else, for that matter).