I hate seeing that evil no-reply email address. Completely agree that if companies want to better understand their customers, they need to leave the communication door open and allow candid responses to freely flow.

I would improve the "Subscription Confirmed" email that comes after you sign up. It looks really bare, has First and Last name fields empty and does not match the websites style or color scheme.

would like to see better privacy setting info and options

you can make your profile private where people must request to follow you. do you think more options are necessary?