Mel D,
I am not sure I understand the post.
It seems to me that you will be served just fine with the prepackaged skins in the programs (StealthOS, Aura, 5imple come to mind in WB5), at least until you can look around for the items you would like - and then decide whether or not you want them.
As has been stated, you already meet the requirements of obtaining WB5 - though you may not be eligible for 5.x at some point, depending on the version of 4 that you purchased.
As has also been stated, Stardock foots a large part of the bill for this site - so it is actually we users at WC who are receiving benefits from Stardock.
The public forums have the potential to allow all different opinions, and heavy handed moderation is not part of the guidelines - so many ideas and comments won't be compatible with everyone's idea of correct.
I think a real community is made up of all different sorts of people, the nice, the rude, the blunt, the thoughtful, the anal, the brainstormer, etc.
For the customer service, and support issues - they are getting better in the Stardock Support forum, with true representatives from Stardock dropping in to help (milksama, and orbitjuice both come to mind). I think that the number of customer service questions is rather daunting based on the increase in users interested in customizing - therefore, WC is more of an offer of assistance until customer service can respond. This does put a measure of responsibility on people who offer advice to make sure they do not step beyond their abilities, or experience and make things worse for the user.
The free downloading, subscriber downloading, and operations (as well as the support needed for these activities - hardware, site coders, bandwidth provision) - have placed a burden on Stardock (instead of a windfall for both the company and the users), and there is now a need to find a way to either generate revenues to cover the costs, or to reduce the costs of running the site - so that we may still have a place to gather on the net.
I am not sure what the best course of action is, but clearly no business would choose to lose money, while providing free services to all.
The alternative is losing a great site (or what many people consider to be a great site) - which does not have much appeal, IMO.
I am sure this is all very obvious to many people, as I am sure that the logical step for Stardock is to pull back on the reins a bit in an attempt to control the budget. 
