Conflicting documentation regarding searching assignee by Full Name using WAS operator

In JIRA 7.1.x you are unable to perform a search against the assignee field using the WAS operator and full name e.g. assignee WAS "Homer Simpson".

Customers report that as of JIRA 6.4.12 you could perform a search similar to project = PRJ AND assignee was "Homer Simpson" and the documentation included an example of this: https://confluence.atlassian.com/jira063/advanced-searching-683542528.html#AdvancedSearching-WAS

The 7.1 Advanced searching - operators reference does not include references to using the full name.

The Advanced searching - fields reference for 7.1 states you can perform a search against the assignee field using WAS and provides an example

If the intended functionality is not to allow the WAS operator to search by full name in the assignee field can we make the documentation consistent. If not, please advise.

Thanks,

Branden