Excellent points made, I especially like the point @JK_stakefish brings up in his linked post.
Regarding 1), I think we should start figuring out a process for this ASAP, especially as I expect there to be more interest in becoming a node operator than slots available. As JK puts it, we want “top tier validators” and this shouldn’t be decided by whoever can rush to a vote quickest.
I like the idea of a tiered approach, though lower tiers would probably not be profitable and this could raise issues. So it is probably better to start with 1-2 reputable operators and get them to a sizeable amount of validators quickly.