Hey Xen,
I'm not sure how we got to talking about the site either, but hey, it's led to some nice design tweaks so I'm not complaining
Regarding the rest of your points, I hasten to point out that like any review it's going to reflect the needs and biases of its writer, which I am careful to acknowledge throughout. I don't express any of my preferences as fact, specifically because I know that others will have very different needs.
For example, I agree with you that games are useless, which is why I said as much about them, but to me a vocabulary builder and similar reading-related enhancements have clear value, even if not to me specifically. For people whose first language isn't English, or for parents nurturing a love of reading in their kids it seems great. And for the rest of us, the functionality is easily disabled or ignored.
I call Calibre hideous because, from a design perspective, it's pretty darn ugly. It's fantastic software, does what it says on the tin, but it has a very unpolished look to it that I've always wished they would improve upon at some point.
Not sure why you seem so worked up about the sizing stuff either...again, that's just my preference, and believe it or not it's possible to hold that view without being amongst "the most casual of readers." I can get my Kindle to show the same amount of text as a physical page on a novel, but I don't. Why would I? Turning pages doesn't hurt, and it's easier on my eyes if I set the text a bit bigger than on a physical book. And the fact that either e-reader is lighter than most physical books is neither here nor there—an iPhone 5 and a Galaxy Note are both lighter than a rotary phone, but I can still prefer the iPhone's size.
Anyway, thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. It's good to be reminded of how preferences can differ, and it's part of why I wrote the article: to help people figure out which device aligned best with their needs.