It's amazing; I take maybe five or six Ryanair flights a year, and every single time checkin is worse than the time before.
Unfortunately, they're often the only option from Dublin->wherever with reasonable times; unless I want to go at five in the morning or something I am stuck with them.
And this the big problem. Normally, competition would take care of this. Someone would come along and offer a better service.
Unfortunately there are many instances of no competition - which then leads to abuse.
It's difficult to compete in a highly price-sensitive market with a company that is effectively scamming its customers. Better service doesn't show up on the price comparison page everyone starts out with.