tldr; OP felt that releasing libraries under MIT License benefited the community, but releasing apps was a mistake because other sites bested them in the SEO game. That probably caused a Bing blackout, and certainly meant losing in SEO to crapware-filled sites.
I'm thinking the optimal course would be a GPL release + trademarking the software name so that there could be more control about attribution and what sites get to use the name?
I'm thinking the optimal course would be a GPL release + trademarking the software name so that there could be more control about attribution and what sites get to use the name?