I didn't realize there were restrictions on how moderator access could be set up. Does that mean that anyone who is given moderator access can make changes on any forum, even ones they're not "assigned" to moderate?

With the "conversations with," I'm thinking that there would be some sort of "house rules" for the forum at large. The usual play nice and don't break the law kind of stuff. Beyond that, the person who starts the thread, or that person's designee, would be in charge of that forum. If someone is causing conflicts, the person could ask him/her to leave, just like you would ask someone to leave your home, without having to ban the person from the entire forum.

It's an idea that is still in development, as I'm not sure that other forums really offer something like it.

There would still be the regular chat/general topic portion, where you may be attracted by the topic. But with this, someone might say, "Oh, so-and-so usually has something interesting to say, I wonder what is being said in that forum?"