Unfortunately, I do feel like the app reappearing after a bit of a rebrand is a very plausible outcome. Or yeah, even if the original creator doesn't try it, someone else very likely could. Or even outside of this particular application, it feels like a bit of a whack-a-mole game with people trying to find ways to harvest AO3 as a source of data and monetize it.

Yeah, the grifter types have certainly always been around (even if the high profile ones of ye olden days that come to mind were more personal; BNFs getting fans to buy them new laptops and such.) And of course there have always been things like fic and art commissions, to varying levels of social acceptance. I also *get* why people who are financially struggling want to take something they're good at - writing fic/doing fanart/etc. - and use it to help that situation. But the broader culture shift feels a lot... worse, to me. Maybe I'm just old.

I do hate the feeling of having to put everything on lockdown. Personal stuff, sure - I try to be mindful of just how much identifying info I put out in public, but even just fannish stuff? It's sad to feel like it has to be locked down to such a degree just to prevent bad actors from trying to exploit it.