DOH, lost my post... GRRRR! it was so informative too.
1. Pressure

Full arm weight is just dandy for coarse stones, and I do mean full arm weight, speed plays a role, you aren't trying to do it too fast, remember going slow IS going fast.

2. Tape
tape's a non issue, completely clean and dry your blade, apply tape, I've had no issues with this, stronger tapes may work for you as well if you're willing to use something like Goo Gone or other adhesive remover. Masking tape is just easier to remove.

3. Ceramic Hone

Short answer, no.

No damage as long as you follow the rules to sharpening, also check your rod to ensure it's free of surface defects that WILL jack up you're perfect edge.

4. Practical Difference Between Tapes

There is none that I know of, remember at polishing levels it takes TIME, slow and steady IS fast. There are also strops for the EdgePro, generally made with a nice tight dense horse leather, not cheap throw away cow leather in a bargain bin, you get what you pay for as a rule of thumb. microns are what matters, I don't know what brand of paste you're using and to be completely honest your blade shouldn't need that fine of a polished edge for most tasks.

Hope this helped.

Skimo makes a great point. If you work the EP too fast, the stone will have a slight tendency to skip over the microscopic bumps on the blade. If you slow things down, the stone then has a chance to grind off those same bumps.

Here's a Protip for the EP: The other night I was experimenting around on the EdgePro and a Spyderco Military. It seemed to me that if guy would set the EP to the green mark it would be about perfect. That's just what I did and sharpened three militaries in a row. Those are now 3 of the sharpest knives I have ever been around. The green setting matches the Military perfectly!

-fj