WP Image Handling/Sizes Issues

the way WP handles uploaded images completely baffles me and it can easily result in a huge amount of wasted disk space

PROBLEMS:

* an image is uploaded and several additional sizes are created automatically, even though they may never be used, resulting in a complete waste of disk space

* images have to be uploaded or deleted from the media library UI instead of, for instance, FTP

* if an image size is changed, it is not retroactive and thus completely counter-intuitive to the user

* if an image size is changed, all of the old, unused sizes remain on the server

* all of the unused image sizes in combination with the used sizes creates a huge mess in the /uploads/ directory, making it difficult for a user to manage

SOLUTIONS:

* user should be able to mass-upload or mass-delete images without using the media library UI – upon uploading and loading the media library UI, the user can then, if they wish, edit the metadata (and they should be prompted to do so)

* uploading images should not result in any additional sizes being generated

* additional images should be generated only as needed at the time an alternate size is inserted into a post/page and the user should be allowed to set any custom size (that is smaller) at the time of insertion and not be limited to what the defaults are

* there should be several default image sizes available from the media library menu as there is now, but this should affect only the menu items that are available in the add media drop-down and not future uploads

* users should be able to add/remove any of the default sizes from the add media menu, but no images should be generated or deleted after doing so