The code is in the code base. Presumably, it still gets run. It doesn't make a difference if new code doesn't look like that.

Call it "legacy code" if you'd like. That specific part is from a less common feature for setting options when running on a Selenium Grid. The new CDP Mode isn't compatible with The Grid (since CDP Mode makes direct CDP API calls without making Selenium API calls).

it's always easier for people today to look at the work of other people in the past and draw stupid conclusions.. don't mind them..

Bad old code has been battle tested. Bad new code has not, and is more likely to have the show stopper bugs you want to avoid.

There's actually a lot of examples being used for testing (https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/exa...), which are run regularly (locally and in GitHub Actions). Plus, a lot of major companies are using SeleniumBase: https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/hel... (if something breaks, I find out quickly)

It's not really bad thought.

It's clear, it's intuitive, it's easy to understand on first glance, it's a single purpose function, it's easy to step through.

you don't have anything to defend here.