(1) place inserter
(2) copy inserter
(3) rotate ghost to no-good, naughty, deplorable, unlucky, uncanny, unheimlich direction
(4) press control shift click
(5) ????
(6) profit!

I'm not really able to reproduce this. Sometimes the inserter's graphics look incorrectly oriented, but the pickup/drop vectors represent what really does. And that still stays properly aligned for me.

Sorry, but I think I'd need to a bit more to actually fix this (assuming you mean drop vectors, and not just the graphics).

yes i can insert items to the west this way. i don't. but

n.b. (2) copy inserter with ctrl+c. when selected with q, it doesn't break.

i examined my mods, none of them should be interacting with inserters. can provide save if u want investigate

Thanks. I was able to reproduce it. I'll be taking care of it soon.

I figured out that this is a factorio engine bug.
Since it will take a while to fix, in the meantime, Rubia will now be manually checking your base, and sending gift to players with unauthorized inserters! Very loud gifts that I'm sure they will enjoy :)

Given that this bug hasn’t been fixed in over a month, I implemented a workaround fix. This took way too much effort, but it works now.

Thanks again for the report.