This is one of many posts where Funcom confirms that this is indeed a bug and not an intended game mechanic.
The reason i think this is depressing because this is not just my problem or your problem. This is a game problem, like many other bugs in the game. It should not take this long to patch something so trivial. It is a problem where private server owners have to take matters into their own hands and fix funcoms problem. They should not have to do this, the devs should fix their own game.