Minor rule modification (was kind of implied before - I just forgot to make it clear):
Reservations will be cleared 18 days after the request was made or if you ask for it to be cleared if you're considered a "new transcriber," 33 days if you're considered an "old transcriber," since this'd be when the transcripts would pay nothing after the decaying payment effect. You cannot re-reserve an episode you previously reserved.

^Affects any reservation made after this post, but none before (though re-reservations of old reservations ARE affected). Previously, you could re-reserve episodes without penalty, theoretically allowing someone to game the rules since the decaying payment mechanism doesn't go into effect until a reservation is made (where a re-reservation would implicitly restart that timer and thus permit someone to have an episode reserved for 10 billion years and not suffer reduced payout).

Yes, keeping in mind the decaying payment mechanism:
"from the time you reserve an episode, you have only 72 hours to finish and submit the transcript until .005BTC will be deducted from the amount to be paid at the start of each 24h cycle thereafter."