I think it was moderated as it was getting very personal.

Well, I'd say no, for many of the reasons above and on a personal level I've lost a lot of confidence in myself and been very depressed.
There is a move for more 4 year PhDs and less studentships looking into the future.

There can be a word limit for the abstract or other section too.

Didn't get it, waited nearly 3 weeks based on what they said, and found the message had got lost via the agency 2 weeks earlier.
STILL waiting for feedback!
I wished you luck on another thread Piglet.

Well done What type of job are you doing, if you don't mind me asking.

What's the meeting about? Are you just starting out, or is it like an interview or upgrade?

Generally without a masters you register as Mphil and get upgraded (after a viva or report). My money (MRC) just kept appearing by direct debit all through.
Is there a departmental secretary or finance person in your department?

Are you in the UK? A prof in the UK would be very experienced. I did read that a younger supervisor can be better than a more experienced busy supervisor (like mine who you can never find) as they have a lot more time for you.
Getting work back quickly would be a nice quality for my supervisor, but failing that I did eventually got very detailed feedback.
You can get advice from other people to widen your knowledge, e.g. your peers, postdocs and other people experienced in a particular area.

It took me 2 years and a very experienced postdoc (who tried a new column for me) to sort out my protein problems once and for all

d'OH! I know a journal who asked for more blood protein related articles, then rejected a journal my friend sent in on exactly what they wanted.
I wouldn't worry, a lot of journals get rejected.

limit as in max time. It depends on how busy the chosen examiners are.

Again, I'd say go to the careers service about how to market yourself to employers. It probably does depend on what you go on to do, and a masters may look more planned/give you something to show for it. On the plus side, PhDs can be off-putting to employers, you have to explain your experience and maybe start with a low salary anyway.
I've thought so many times about giving up, I decided to finish, but I've not been happy and it's been a struggle.

Some people write the lit review at the end as they know what the rest of the thesis says first and how to introduce it.
It sounds like a good approach for results chapters particularly, I like the storyboard idea as I've got lost on what I've been trying to say a lot.
I bought a book on writing a thesis. They aren't aimed at sciences but I don't know what your subject is.

There's a 10 week limit between submitting and viva in my department (Molecular Biology), or at least it is usually this timeframe if not an official limit.

I felt bad when someone else pointed out it was a bit rude. At the time I just accepted it.
Ir ealisedquite early on I don't get on with my supervisor's style and get quite depressed/lose confidence about work. I'm just sticking it out and finishing (near submitting) so I can move on. I've decided Science isn't for me, that it's a struggle to be tough and accept criticism/insecurity in experiments/academia generally.