#1 - There is always going to be hackers, before I hosted to more than ~20 people I did small UHC's for friends and had NCP then just because when I've trusted people not to hack, they did.. I'll reconsider this or atleast re-configure it to not be so strong.
#2 We give enough food to accommodate with this, not only do you get 12 steak as starter food there are enough animals around. Not once have I or any of my friends had food issues. I can tell this is just your personal preference.
#3 I do agree.
#4 This is only in Triple ores, when we host none-triple ores it only drops one XP bottle. I made it drop 3 XP bottles to just go with the TO gamemode.
#5 We generate our worlds with no seeds etc no Oceans or rivers.
#6 We don't need to upgrade, we can with-hold what we get easily, the lag is on your end. I have optimized the server to work well with 1.7 and 1.8. We run at a strong 19.5TPS at 100 players, I've done stressed tests privately along with performances tests.

I know alot of people complain about the Gapple, but since we have OP gamemodes why not make apples a little more ;)