What’s up with vanity call sign applications?

The contents of this post were first published to Mastodon and have been mirrored here for posterity.

Browsing the daily lists of applications for vanity call signs on ae7q.com, it seems like there are a lot of requests destined to be dismissed for “insufficient class,“ “restricted region,” and “invalid format” reasons. And some of these are from current Amateur Extra class operators. WTF? Don’t they cover call sign assignment on the Tech exam? This is basic stuff. I even see “active call sign” dismissals. Like can’t you even be bothered to do a license search before you apply? Seems bonkers to me, especially when you consider what a time consuming process it is.