I've also learned that g0ldfish1 has abandoned the notabug project.

Drag.

"Here are the rules of the community, or fuck off to a site you like better." but idk

That's one general option among many. With several policy sets with simple fundamentals to pick and choose from, like-minded federated site owners and communities can be on the same page and use matching filters and settings.

giving a distinction from whether a post is focused on the media, or whether a post is focused on discussion

Fantastic idea! More metatags on all things. Why should the technocracy only get all the useful data?

You are probably correct that a traditional forum would be better than saidit for a discussion focused site.

This is a dilemma. SaidIt was born out of Reddit. Reddit and SaidIt users are lazy and set in their ways. Just like people on Facebook who won't try SaidIt. Introducing them to a new forum is a HUGE ask. Most won't.