Sure historical popularity is a good reason for people who are already familiar with it to keep using it. That is not really an excuse for why the standard lib

Sure historical popularity is a good reason for people who are already familiar with it to keep using it. That is not really an excuse for why the standard library docs for the clients you mentioned link to requests though (especially if they were actually good, rather than just being legacy). If they really were good, why would the standard library itself suggest something else?