Because that is the problem? That's what C++ programmmers are unhappy about.
> ideally we'd have a better API for vector that might require C++ language changes
Ideally after almost thirty years "maybe we could re-design the whole programming language to paper over this bug?" would be such an obviously bad idea that I wouldn't see it in a response.
I recommend not indicating you're rewording another commenter when you actually disagree with them if you don't want that difference in content pointed out. I note that you've trimmed out the parts of my comment that made it clear I was drawing that distinction. Maybe you missed those?
Separately, though, it's not accurate to call this "papering over [a] bug". Wanting to have a thing that behaves like a reference that can identify things that aren't addressable directly (ie: having custom reference representations) shows up in a surprising number of places as desirable because we use references (and things like references) as an abstraction in many programming languages to enable nicer, more usable syntax (ie: having assignments behave in a particular way).
Edit: and changing the language would have been at the time that std::vector was designed (ie: c++98-ish c++ has a real problem with abstracting over not-really-references). With current c++, we can get a reference-like-object much closer to being fully transparent (`auto&&`, ranges iterator model, etc). But std::vector regrets reflect the constraints of the time when it was initially designed/standardized. C++ doesn't have a good story for making breaking changes, so if folks want a good vector for bits, today they'll go elsewhere.
I can see why you're upset but KerrAvon describes their statement as the result of "a cursory web search" and it isn't false so I wanted to be clear that what they wrote was not wrong per se. I don't think I "disagree" with a person who used Google, read some stuff and came away with an emphasis on the technical reasons this is a problem rather than how it's actually a problem for real programmers.
Maybe I do disagree with you, that's very possible.
With current C++ you could design a specialization that's somwhat less crap. But what's actually important - and what would actually happen - is that you would not standardize such a specialization at all because everybody knows it's a bad idea to do this - it would still be crap if you tried today, just less crap than in 1998.
C++ chooses to have a bad story for breaking changes. That's a deliberate choice and should be understood that way. WG21 are not hapless victims.