It helps a *lot* Cory! I'm sorry it had to be a difficult experience for you to get started, but I'm glad you've come to right place and hope you'll find somewhere interesting to contribute to! ;)

It's late night here for me, but feel free to head over to #fedora-join on freenode, you'll find humans to answer questions :) If you have any problems getting started, please don't hesitate to ask on this list or on irc!

I'll keep your detailed email in mind when working on the login revamp, thank you so much for your interest!