1 - Initial page loading was slow ... but after the queries and what not have cached, it loads as fast as this one. I'm hoping others notice the trend as well.
2 - I like the Applause feature here, not sure why you say otherwise. I am the one who "created" it after all.
3 - Like/Dislike a post. This concept will stay, however, I'll be modifying it a bit.
4 - There are several text editors available to the members of the site. You can actually choose which editor you want, TinyMCE, BBCode, etc. You can even post HTML (your Table's you asked about).
The software comes with a points system already. I believe the points are basted on posts Thanked and how many posts. I'm not sure, but it's a system I'm confident I can modify to be suitable.
You can thank any post and each thank gives the member a point(s).
There's also points based on posts too.
That stuff I haven't completely hammered out just yet.