Question about design rationale / history of CSS feature closed as "opinion-based"?

Question

My question Inline HTML elements don't allow setting “width” - why is that? was just closed as "opinion-based".

I'm a bit confused as to why. I'm not asking for opinion, I'm asking for the rationale and history behind a design decision. I thought software and API design was squarely on-topic here.

Also, there is a fair number of (excellent, IMHO) similar questions about why certain APIs or systems are the way they are, such as:

• Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width?
• Why is 0 false?
• What is the history of why bytes are eight bits?
• Block elements vs inline elements in HTML: why the distinction? (this one is even about CSS, too)

Unfortunately, none of the five close-voters left a comment explaining their decision. So why was is considered opinion-based? How could I ask about this design decision in a way that is on-topic?

Answer 1

I'm reopening this question unless someone has a good reason why it shouldn't be. We have guidance about history type questions, which (as far as I can remember or find) hasn't been superseded by newer guidance and we have a number of other open and unlocked history questions.