3: If I select "Configure Recording" for Charlie Brown under "Recording Rules" the Recording Rule disappears never to be seen again.
That shouldn't happen and has never happened for me. I do these sorts of edits quite often.
Check if your rules are sorted by name, and if the sort is correct. If the sort isn't set sometimes edited, or new, rules will move to or be placed at the end of the list.
I don't agree that Rules for which there is no match in the current EPG data should be placed in the "To Be Recorded" list. That is what the list of rules is for. After all, lots of programs disappear out of the EPG data for six to eight months of the year. Do you really want to wade through all of them every time you want to look at what is going to be recorded? Of course they would have no date against them, so they would all be bunched up at the end, if the list was sorted by the default of Day and Time. Or maybe they would be bunched up at the beginning, which would be worse.
Of course as there is no EPG data for those rules, the list would have to be a mix of scheduled recordings and rules. That may lead to confusion by itself, but in the worst case it may lead to missed recordings. For example, you set up a rule for a program. Some time later you see it advertised as starting on Sunday. You check your "To Be Recorded" list and yep, there it is. But what you actually saw was the rule, not a scheduled recording, and the program is not recorded.
That could happen if the is an error in the rule, or an error in the EPG data. Perhaps, for example, the EPG data incorrectly flagged a program as a repeat, and the rule said no repeats.
No, keep the "To Be Recorded" list clean, only containing scheduled recordings.
I would like to see an easy way to list which programs are going to be recorded based on a specific rule though. Perhaps by right clicking on the rule with an option to pop up a list of scheduled recordings related to the rule. That would help in the management of rules and scheduled recordings.