I have not heard of anyone else rocking the hand fastened toe flap.
Not sure about nipping it in the bud either. That ruling seems to be a bit narrow and focus in on hand fastened toe flaps. It seems to leave open if someone actually 'manufactures' a shoe that has a toe extender. But that is the nature of these type of equipment rules. They often seem to leave open a few possible scenarios, but once the main ideas are established people mostly just obey the rules.