The initial round of banning the shittiest users will be the worst. But if it's kept up, then that will surely change the character of SaidIt. If you ban the dynamic and interesting occasional offenders then you also risk neutering the character of SaidIt, possibly resulting in a bland site. However, if the worst are gone maybe the rest won't bother to stoop anymore.

IMO, it's worth the risk to the reputation to shape up or ship out. Ideally done with an announcement and maybe clean slates for everyone. (An announcement section in the top right side bar would be a perfect place to link such an announcement post.)

If there was a second site, then there's be no risk to reputation. Didn't know about the Reddit "Lounge" (not to be confused with the Chat Lounge).

These VIP subs could have many pros but I can think of too many cons to bother listing.

Another thing Enza, that you may or may not be aware of, is their efforts to decentralize SaidIt. Goldfish(sp) is working on it. If SaidIt were federated then many people could host their own, and join whatever instances they liked or were invited to. Beyond that maybe someone might figure out a way to host SaidIt instances for people who would want to cultivate their own communities, including cutting out those not wanted. This might develop into bubble culture for many, yet for many others they could still co-mingle, pick and chose who they hang with, view reputations and Venn diagrams, etc. Also, in this way the VIP could be selected, like Tilde does.