I've considered the visualization of diffs, but I really, really don't want this too complex to the average cook. As far as "forking" is concerned, you CAN copy their recipe right now. There will be an indicator that says the "original recipe", with a link to the OG recipe.(I just haven't published the template yet.) The copy works, and it will be a completely new recipe associated with your profile. A simplistic visual tree of it's origins to where it ended up is a good thought though.

I understand your concern regarding the social networks, but user security is paramount to me. Especially when this is a one man crew. Dealing with local accounts is just another avenue of anguish, I don't want to deal with right now. The big guys have already invested millions in making their services bullet proof. Possibly in the future with tokens based on email alone, I'm just anti passwords. Is there another auth method you'd consider? I can certainly add just about anything that supports oAuth.

Thanks for the feedback!