Why do inline fields work without brackets in lists, but not in tasks?

[TangentFoxy]

According to the documentation, inline fields are supposed to only work with brackets around them when in a list or task:

I did not know this, and have regularly been using inline fields in lists like - reading-list:: Book by Author with a query like:

TABLE reading-list As "Reading List"
WHERE reading-list
SORT file.name ASC

And it correctly picks up what I've entered (unless the list is indented). I only noticed this isn't true for tasks when I started trying to use the ability to give tasks different statuses to differentiate between completed / in-progress / other statuses on things across my vault.

I am concerned and confused by the inconsistency between documentation and reality, and the inconsistency between inline fields being picked up on top-level lists, but not indented lists. I want to use things correctly so that a bug fix doesn't break my stuff in the future.