Yes, I'm also all for the free flow of information as well and people borrow, share and build on concepts and ideas from others all the time...that's progress.
Ultimately though, if the original authors take no action then there's no actual issue with it 'legally' afaik..
I think the original authors would take issue with someone else profiting off their work, but i believe they're not even aware that this is occurring. I think that as more and more people begin to take steemit seriously we could see more situations like this coming to the surface.
Oh, I thought that the steemcleaner comment maybe meant that the authors are aware, but maybe the site operator never mentioned it to the authors.. I don't know. Considering the author has named himself after an anarchist who blew up skyscrapers in a kind of 'system busting' way, it might be a bit hypocritical to try to use the system's rules to control the words - but I'm just speculating really.
This is a new message from steemcleaners (maybe a week old?) so this suggests that the website has been informed and has responded, I have no idea about each of the original authors.
I guess I can see your point about the Tyler Durdan avatar but from my perspective it's more to do with a way to protect the identities of the authors and less to do with identifying with the ethos of a fictional character. But I'm also just speculating here.