Disagree that it's written in lawsuits, it's written to please every customer under the sun and due to this, code base has become Rube Goldberg machine that few people understand.
Disagree with this. In the places I’ve worked, I’ve lost count of the number of times we turned down feature requests with the explanation that - this isn’t common practice and seems to be unique to you.
Yes, with the caveat that the customer is not - nor does not represent - the actual end-users. The customer is someone in procurement.
...or nepotism is involved.