How to bury a discussion site alive

The site Builder.cz offers a unique collection
 of several very interesting forums that work by email and on the web. Pardon me, I meant
 offered, but let’s take it in order. I was an active member of several Builder.cz forums, including JavaScript, Java, Web, XML, and Algorithm Problems. Lately Builder had been going down occasionally, which was hardly surprising given that it had already stopped publishing articles and gone into hibernation.

Yesterday it went down in a way that apparently left posting through the web interface working while attempts by email failed. Today at 15:18 a truly original explanation for the past few days’ problems arrived by email. I quote:

Changes to email subscriptions to discussion forums hosted on grafika.cz, digineff.cz, fotografovani.cz, builder.cz, and mujmac.cz:

Good day,

We are sending you this email as a user subscribed to the mailing lists on grafika.cz, digineff.cz, fotografovani.cz, builder.cz, and other sites operated by Institut digitální fotografie and Grafika Publishing.

Because the original mailing list system was very inflexible and often abused, yesterday we launched a new version of the discussion forum with a different mailing list system. The lists will work in essentially the same way, but only registered users can subscribe.

If you want to continue participating in the mailing lists, you need to subscribe again. Unfortunately, discussions can no longer be delivered to the old email addresses.

Instructions for registering for the forum are available at:
http://pas.idif.cz/public/forum-registrace.php

After registering, you can subscribe to individual forums by email again. Instructions are available at:
http://www.idif.cz/art/info/emailove-diskuze.html

We apologize for the inconvenience. The old system had reached the point where it required so much oversight and continual assistance that the situation was no longer sustainable.

We hope you will stay with the discussions. If you have any problems or want to report an error, please use the form at http://helpdesk.idif.cz

Regards,
The forum administrators

My first reaction was fairly irritated. Why do I have to go through the subscription process for all those forums again, with all the fun that entails? Just reconfiguring the rules 
 for sorting my mail is a nuisance. Why couldn’t the existing accounts have been 
 migrated? Why am I only finding out after the fact that the change happened? Never mind, there’s no point imagining the worst, so I try registering. The wait for the confirmation email gets me a little worked up, and what finally does it is finding 
 that I can’t subscribe to posts from the former Builder.cz site, now called the Builder.cz zone. It simply isn’t on the list.

In the midst of this brief fit of anger, PM2K and NKD appear independently of each other, both toying with the idea of skipping registration altogether. Next comes frustration over the missing Builder.cz, ending in anger at the stupid new registration system. Of course I understand and fully respect the operator’s right to deal with viruses and spam, but why do it without a shred of consideration for the people who use it? Would it have been so hard to make the transition at least a little painless?

I hope the scenario NKD describes doesn’t come true. In that sad 
 story the number of frustrated users grows until Builder.cz’s once exemplary 
 forums become lovely spam-proof, virus-proof, and also 
 out-of-date junkyards. If that happens, rest in peace, dear Builder.cz.

Update: While I was writing this, Builder.cz appeared among the zones, but now I can’t log in.