The same applies to comments. I have absolutely inherited codebases where one of the early steps was to make a commit excising every single comment in the code

The same applies to comments. I have absolutely inherited codebases where one of the early steps was to make a commit excising every single comment in the code, because so many of them were old, lies, or old lies, that it wasn't worth the risk of a junior developer accidentally thinking they could be relied upon. (and of course they remained available in history to be potentially buffed up and resurrected, but still, argh)