Well, that would be something to consider. Do you have any references from devs that pertains to what's being discussed?
EDIT:
And there is this from from the D&D website on sage advice. They directly advocate sage advice for figuring out RAI, so however you view sage advice, that is what it is, straight from the horses mouth:
...
[FONT=&]In a typical D&D session, a DM makes numerous rules decisions—some barely noticeable and others quite obvious. Players also interpret the rules, and the whole group keeps the game running. There are times, though, when the design intent of a rule isn’t clear or when one rule seems to contradict another.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Dealing with those situations is where Sage Advice comes in. This column doesn’t replace a DM’s adjudication. Just as the rules do, the column is meant to give DMs, as well as players, tools for tuning the game according to their tastes. The column should also reveal some perspectives that help you see parts of the game in a new light and that aid you in fine-tuning your D&D experience.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]When I answer rules questions, I often come at them from one to three different perspectives.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]RAW. “Rules as written”—that’s what RAW stands for. When I dwell on the RAW interpretation of a rule, I’m studying what the text says in context, without regard to the designers’ intent. The text is forced to stand on its own.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Whenever I consider a rule, I start with this perspective; it’s important for me to see what you see, not what I wished we’d published or thought we published.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]RAI. Some of you are especially interested in knowing the intent behind a rule. That’s where RAI comes in: “rules as intended.” This approach is all about what the designers meant when they wrote something. In a perfect world, RAW and RAI align perfectly, but sometimes the words on the page don’t succeed at communicating the designers’ intent. Or perhaps the words succeed with one group of players but fail with another.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]When I write about the RAI interpretation of a rule, I’ll be pulling back the curtain and letting you know what the D&D team meant when we wrote a certain rule.
...
So RAI is expounded there.
And if a particular dev likes to play the game differently, sure. But I think they will admit as much that they are deviating from what the intent was when they were designing the game, as they had more to consider than just how they personally like to play D&D.[/FONT]
Oh right. That I don't know what they think and neither do you. All any of us can do is interpret the rules the best we can. Sometimes we're going to disagree.
