Shoot me if this is a stupid question, but this will only be for Bitcoin community using LN or LN itself? Not that it isn't tough enough figuring it out with Bitcoin, nor will the restriction prevent other networks (see this forum). Maybe it doesn't matter?
1) Invision but only because am familiar with that. I do find bb and SM to feel much lighter though. Tapatalk looks very nice and itself seems to be considering SOME form of tipping with crypto, among other schemes. Wonder if they considered or are considering LN (sorry if out of topic).
2) Neutral. I'd pay but not sure who else would. People might want to understand why though. Not the cost, just the principle. Explain it well and then I'm sure it's not an issue.
3) Is it possible to Pay What You Want?
4) Maybe ask volunteers to share live setup details for nodes. Then it's just copy and go for most people?
5) Same as 4 maybe.
6) lnchat
Appreciate the feedback. The forum will be primarily geared towards the Bitcoin LN, but if there's enough interest we could eventually add sub-forums for altcoins utilizing LN (such as Litecoin, Stellar, etc...)
To answer your question on why would anyone want to pay to post on a message board. There are a couple answers to this and some of it we're still thinking through.
1) I think a lot of people find it fun, and the cost will likely be negligible for most people (we're talking a couple of satoshis, which is a fraction of a penny).
2) It could be a good way to help fund the monthly cost/upkeep of the site instead of relying on ad revenue (right now we're not at this stage and plan on absorbing all cost associated with running the site)
3) I've been considering the idea of having a pool/jackpot ticker at the top of the site displaying how many satoshis have been spent over the last day/week/month (not sure what the exact time frame will be). We would then randomly award a user on the forum with the total jackpot using a provably fair method at regular intervals (again not sure on exact timeframe). I think this would be a fun incentive and promote more user activity.
As far as your response to questions 4 and 5, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Do you mind expanding on that?