I doubt the 7 char rule will be taken off, we used to have a shoutbox, but since the upgrade it has gone away. Plus is was never implamented on the syth style when they did have it. Post in all caps wouldn't bother me, i didn't even know we couldn't post in caps. 'THIS IS A CAPS TEST'
The views of threads are updated with a cron i belive, there not updated right away, i think its every hour or 30 mins.