I have been a web publisher /webmaster for 20 years now .. and I agree with you 100%.
when i first seen this site , i thought .. its straight out of the 90's , wow this is like my first site.
but i am hoping the people running the show , understand the big picture here , understand this could be the world wide web of tomorrow if they do this right .. so far .. its not the right direction that's for sure.
BTW , i love your ideas