Yeah, it's literally the second step of enshittification, where platforms stop allocating value to users and start allocating them to publishers. This is still Bluesky expanding out its surveillance apparatus, something it will have every incentive to abuse later on like other platforms before it.
The user can also block your tracking scripts. Besides, the user can share the link with friends, and you won't be able to track them this way. I'm sure there are many other reasons why having a middleware is de-facto the industry standard.
I don't know. I'm happy that some very talented and knowledgeable people create content that makes my life a little better, and that they are able to do that thanks to the various forms of monetization.
There is no way it isn't already being abused, there are zero guard rails on it
Fucking typical, a move that hurts the platform long-term is being cheered for by ignorant idealists while the makers of its demise are already salivating and cartoonishly rubbing their hands in glee
BlueSky relies on JavaScript to run (try turning it off and loading their site, it won't even render). Click-through traffic is almost exclusively measured by JavaScript (e.g. Google ad "events"). This is the same as measuring other stats, like whether you lingered on a post before scrolling past it, or whether you opened another tab, or whatever.
Proxy links are absolutely a method of measuring traffic, and they're a method that works even when the site has JavaScript disabled - but since that's not how Bsky works, it's not relevant.