They gave it away for sure the NC told me that directly "they (Scheduling) wanted the ability to crew trips faster"
The contract was inked in 2019 bots were not as ubiquitous as today but they existed. There were a few Regionals using Saber that had these same problems at that time. There were known system exploits IDK what they were then or really now. How ever you cut it giving that away free and clear as the NC did was a strategic error causing a cascade of problems. By allowing a select few to pick up the bulk of the PAF it causes the other pilots to give up on PAF and pick up open time which reduces the trips in PAF. This is why we presently fight over 6hr red eyes. and other garbage trips.

I also take issue with the way in which the Captcha was deployed (note it was only deployed after the bots started crashing flica) On the front end sign in and not when a pilot tries to pick up a trip. Now every time I want to check my schedule I need to take a Turing test to prove I an not a robot. ( a test I regularly fail for some reason)

After 8 years I would expect a more comprehensive fix. The time to do anything quickly passed over 7 years ago they might as well have done it right.

Where we are right now I would not advocate any big changes in the Union. As a pilot group I would advocate higher expectations from the Union leadership, unless of course you personally don't want any changes in the status quo.