Tom,
You are correct that right now, the existing packages in OpenACS are not the best examples of how to use the content repository. Of course, most of them work, so there isn't as much incentive to rewrite them just for fun.
It is also a good idea to offer general features for acs_objects if that makes sense. One area this has been addressed for 5.0 is categorization, which was previously implemented only for content repository objects.
The greatest issue with the content repository is the lack of a full Tcl api to reduce the huge amount of pl/sql code that needs to be written. The old aD CMS package, which is greatly unappreciated, has some good ideas on how to automate many of the things you are talking about. The user interface is far from ideal so it doesn't get used much. It is more of a content repository browser than a good example of a end-user application.
Lately the outward appearance of OpenACS has been improving. I think we can also improve the Tcl APIs for developers to allow for easier development.
