You have got a point with this registering thing but when I check in the option to allow comments only for registered users, under the post there is a link, that you have to log in to comment but when someone is not registered there is no option to register which is not user friendly.
This whole Genesis thingie is starting to drive me nuts.
I would gladly dump all the optimization plugins but no one these days makes normal themes without js. Each and every of them has tons of js and other garbage which I then have to optimize with a plugin, or even two of them which need updates which brake something or have vulnerabilities which BPS Pro has to protect. This is a insane circle.