You stated this well, there are a lot of illogical and meaningless rules. Most of the common features can be purchased, which creates unnecessary clutter and ambiguity. However, I would not say that it is any kind of pyramid scheme, there is no one offers profit by asking for investment. At least not by the forum administration.

As far as I know, Alttalk was created as a response to Bitcointalk, when the marginalization of bounty programs, altcoins and all the other crap that comes with it started here. That's why it is primarily focused on those sections, while the discussion about Bitcoin is left to Bitcointalk, and there, more as curiosity, space is left for talks about Bitcoin. It is obvious (both here and there) that altcoins, shittokens and all the crap that comes with them, do not attract that much interest, hence the marginalization of that forum. It's the same thing with the altcoin discussion boards on this forum.

The forum has its token, which is the centre of the payment you mention. As far as I understand, members are rewarded for their activity with these tokens, which can then be exchanged for money or additional items on the forum. The construction may not be bad, but it is ridiculous for us who are used to all that (and even more) for free.

Now they faced serious things for the first time, with the arrival of several mixer signature campaigns that brought real money (probably the most money in the history of the forum) and in their way attracted people who would not just write rubbish.
The administration is overwhelmed with objections, complaints, and suggestions on the very functionality of the forum (Mainly by teleported users). We will see how he will handle the "crisis" situation. If nothing else, it is obvious that there is a will to improve.