Any thought to giving the beta testers access to the internal issue tracker for viewing or commenting purposes? Just seems like this is common practice elsewhere and it saves everyone time and trouble, and encourages more beta testers.
L&L has stated in past betas they do not wish to do so. There is sometimes a separate web-based forum for some closed betas, but open betas are usually run here in the forums in the appropriate topics.
Here is the thread as with the reply given about releasing their tracking list.