Modders did it to themselves

[Clerith]

And one of the largest ironies, is that the fans of the playground variant of the mod is still, allegedly, available and being used to this day. Hmm...

You mean the Loporrit-Sync Server? It was mentioned in the Interview with the Mare creator and that it is not adviced to use it.
You can also easily find information about this online. But I assume they don't (yet) have an official address to which they could send a cease-and-desist order? I'm not sure.
It could also simply be that they've chosen Mare because of its widespread popularity and are now observing the reactions. We'll see.