Placing torch on back of steps or upside down steps

In 1.6.4 I was able to place torches on the back part of the stair blocks. the back part was always treated as a full. In the attached image you will see I like to use stair blocks to create decorative houses. It is nice to decorate inside properly. Top left of the image you will see a torch placed successfully on a stair block. Top right image shows me attempting to place a torch on the stair block in 1.7.4. It will not let me, and in this example the torch popped to an adjacent full block. I hope this is a glitch that can be fixed and not an intentional update. Please let me know if you can fix this? If intentional, explain why as I don't see any negative consequences for allowing a player flexibility in their builds.