Do not combine issues. Please make separate tickets for different issues.
I've experienced the same intermittently. It'd be helpful to isolate when this occurs. (My hunch is it is related to some type of physics update check that occurs after block placement where some routine incorrectly resets the block orientation to default.)
Confirmed. Happens in 1.4.2PR
Confirmed in 1.5.2. Both console implying it should work with player parameter and only ops allowed to use in-game.