I'm glad to hear you like the redesigned layout of the site and the new forum feature. More importantly, thanks for your input on the areas where you'd like us to do better. We've really only just started; there are a lot more enhancements to come. Constructive criticism like yours helps us decide where to direct our efforts next.
I have good news about the Events calendar: it is not up and running yet but will be going on line soon. The old calendar was merely a static HTML file that one of us put together once a month when we compiled the calendar for the print magazine. The new one will allow registered users to enter the data themselves (i.e., your event goes up right away, instead of waiting, in some cases, almost a whole month). Now, as for registration....
The decision to require registration was heavily debated during our development meetings. We were very concerned about the potential annoyance to users, but we decided it was outweighed by the benefits of making the site more interactive for them. We wanted to add features like the forums and the "self-service" events calendar but also had to make sure we could maintain control over the content on our site and who posts it.
Requiring users to give us a valid e-mail address is pretty much a necessity nowadays for keeping trolls and various automated spammers out of the forums. And, yes, we also want to capture demographic information--everybody who works on
FineScale does it because they enjoy it, but it's also a business. If we want to continue making the magazine, we have to sell magazines!
As a matter of corporate policy, Kalmbach is very careful not to abuse the e-mail info we receive. In fact, when you register for the site, there is a check box for opting out of receiving ANY e-mail solicitation from us.
The other purpose of registration is, as you commented, to allow for access to subscriber-only content or articles from back issues sold online "by the drink," so to speak. We're not ready to do that yet, but the new site's structure gives us the option in the future. BTW, we don't intend to start charging for stuff on the site that's currently free.
This registration type of registration system has already been implemented on several other Kalmbach magazine websites, and users have found the inconvenience minimal. I hope you'll give it a try and pay us a return visit.