I would like to understand why a few people say that the recommendation is so important. If it is, then it means that the application process isn't working ver

I would like to understand why a few people say that the recommendation is so important. If it is, then it means that the application process isn't working very well. I understand that it can help if for some reason the application isn't very clear, but it shouldn't help "a lot", like someone said in one of the links.