If the originally purported intent had carried through to the specifications, it adds up in a sense. If !important overrides indicated an explicitly set formatting/sizing for compliance/legal reasons, implementers touching it without any historical context would know at a glance what it signified and that it shouldn't be touched lightly without explicit approval. And when the implementer updates the stylesheets to use 24px text on a page based on direction from the CEO/designer and the element with an !important override stays at 26px, the implementer can point to the !important override as the cause and confirm if the person requesting the change has confirmed legal/compliance approval to change that one as well. Even if the parties involved in the change (the designer, CEO, or implementer) aren't familiar with the compliance reason for the override's origins, the fact that it's there is a known flag that changes can lead to potential violations and costs/fines and need to be properly vetted for approval.
It would also make it easier to go in and update the stylesheets to comply with changes in compliance/legal requirements, as you can easily search through the styles for !important flags and find all the spots that need reviewed for potential change needs.
That said, its use in practice is completely different than this purported rationale for the flag's existence, and !important is sprinkled so cavalierly in existing codebases to crudely but effectively get a desired effect that the above situation is impossible at this point and the original rationale is moot.
If the originally purported intent had carried through to the specifications, it adds up in a sense. If !important overrides indicated an explicitly set formatting/sizing for compliance/legal reasons, implementers touching it without any historical context would know at a glance what it signified and that it shouldn't be touched lightly without explicit approval. And when the implementer updates the stylesheets to use 24px text on a page based on direction from the CEO/designer and the element with an !important override stays at 26px, the implementer can point to the !important override as the cause and confirm if the person requesting the change has confirmed legal/compliance approval to change that one as well. Even if the parties involved in the change (the designer, CEO, or implementer) aren't familiar with the compliance reason for the override's origins, the fact that it's there is a known flag that changes can lead to potential violations and costs/fines and need to be properly vetted for approval.
It would also make it easier to go in and update the stylesheets to comply with changes in compliance/legal requirements, as you can easily search through the styles for !important flags and find all the spots that need reviewed for potential change needs.
That said, its use in practice is completely different than this purported rationale for the flag's existence, and !important is sprinkled so cavalierly in existing codebases to crudely but effectively get a desired effect that the above situation is impossible at this point and the original rationale is moot.