Wouldn’t you just use the relay list thing to know where to look for stuff? Also theres an assumption in hints that they will always be at a specific location, but locations change and go down over time. It just doesn’t seem that useful to me.
Discussion
It's true they rot over time. The thing about hints is you don't know who the author is yet, so you don't have a 10002 list to refer to. It's most relevant for replies and quotes.
It is useful when someone mentions another event without mentioning it's author. Where is that event?
It is useful when someone mentions another event and author, but you don't know that author, and they haven't adverised the relays they use. Where is that event?
Most of the time people are looking at recent events where this field hasn't rotted yet.