Why does the Python documentation say this about xml.etree.ElementTree‘s Element.makeelement() method?

Do not call this method, use the SubElement() factory function instead

It’s specifically not marked as deprecated and has existed in the docs for several versions, with this same warning.

Does the method not work as described? Does it break other things?

Apart from seeming like awkward API design, it isn’t clear why this warning is there, as opposed to putting it on track for deprecation, or simply omitting it from documentation, or explaining the negative consequences should one use it, which may help diagnosing issues if existing code uses it.