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My post is a little more circumspect than you make it sound, so I've linked to it.
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Squatter,
Sorry, sorry about my crude condensation. Open pen, insert large foot. I should have linked to the original post.
What you are suggesting in terms of their new website makes sense. I can understand that CT and the estate would prefer to have comfortable turf on which to make such announcements rather than just throwing press releases out into the void where the minions of Morgoth can devour them. If the site will be used for communication and explanation, that would be wonderful. But, as you say, we'll have to withold judgment.
The context in which this issue arose for me was similar to what you've described about your professor; it involved discussions at a conference. One of the largest gatherings of medievalists in the US is held at Kalamazoo, Michigan ( an unlikely place, I know). My undergrad college , a small school no one's ever heard of, is also in that city. Several years ago, I visited the college and attended the conference, which I hadn't done in years. A number of people were speculating about the Beowulf texts, since the permission to publish had apparently been pulled. They weren't hostile to CT or the estate (in fact several of these same people had participated in a Tolkien session). They just wanted to understand what had happened and expressed concern about the availability of the texts.
As someone who doesn't read Anglo-Saxon but still appreciates this historical period, I would love to read Tolkien's translations because these would probably bring us closer to the original than the ones that are currently available. Tolkien's unique combination of historical knowledge and sensitivity to words could give us a new perspective.
What if Silm and HoME had never been released? Our appreciation of Tolkien as the creator of Arda would necessarily be more limited. But without CT's approval and hard work,none of that would have happened. It's possible that these historical texts and notes on Beowulf would shed a similar new light on Tolkien's contributions as a medievalist. Let's hope it happens soon.