Text editors

As I often seem to be, again this time replying to myself. However, I would still like to understand why moodle seems to deliberately do something that clearly seems like a bug. With the below code I get html_editors for all essay questions, since I comment out the code the purpose of which is stated in the comment to "Only use the rich text editor for the first essay question on a page." What the...?!

function print_question_formulation_and_controls(&$question, &$state, $cmoptions, $options) {
global $CFG;
static $htmleditorused = false;

$answers = &$question->options->answers;
$readonly = empty($options->readonly) ? '' : 'disabled="disabled"';

// Only use the rich text editor for the first essay question on a page.
/*start changes*/
//was: $usehtmleditor = can_use_html_editor() && !$htmleditorused;
$usehtmleditor = can_use_html_editor();
/*end changes*/
$formatoptions = new stdClass;
$formatoptions->noclean = true;
$formatoptions->para = false;

$inputname = $question->name_prefix;
$stranswer = get_string("answer", "quiz").': ';

/// set question text and media
$questiontext = format_text($question->questiontext,
$question->questiontextformat,
$formatoptions, $cmoptions->course);

$image = get_question_image($question, $cmoptions->course);

// feedback handling
$feedback = '';
if ($options->feedback) {
foreach ($answers as $answer) {
$feedback = format_text($answer->feedback, '', $formatoptions, $cmoptions->course);
}
}

// get response value
if (isset($state->responses[''])) {
$value = stripslashes_safe($state->responses['']);
} else {
$value = "";
}

// answer
if (empty($options->readonly)) {
// the student needs to type in their answer so print out a text editor
$answer = print_textarea($usehtmleditor, 18, 80, 630, 400, $inputname, $value, $cmoptions->course, true);
} else {
// it is read only, so just format the students answer and output it
$safeformatoptions = new stdClass;
$safeformatoptions->para = false;
$answer = format_text($value, FORMAT_MOODLE,
$safeformatoptions, $cmoptions->course);
}

include("$CFG->dirroot/question/type/essay/display.html");

if ($usehtmleditor) {
use_html_editor($inputname);
$htmleditorused = true;
}
}

So I got it working now, but I'm afraid of the unknown implications.