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Thanks.  I had assumed the same but then I read these blog posts that seems to contradict this:

http://brianjackson.io/how-to-migrate-from-http-to-https-complete-tutorial/#step19

https://www.mariehaynes.com/switching-https-happens-disavow/

If the switch is made from http to https (with 301 redirects from http to https) should the disavow file be copied over in GWT so it is also uploaded against the https as well as the http version?

Could you try disabling the posts instead of deleting them entirely?  If things take a turn for the worse you could always enable them again and look into improving the posts instead.

We have an online site with approximately 800 products.  When we add new products we typically use the photos and product description provided by the brand.  The problem is there are numerous other sites using the same descriptions.  All other content on the site is original.

Is having small blocks of content that are the same on multiple sites likely to cause problems with Google?

By selecting a country in the Country Targeting section of GWT what effect does this have?

For example if I select UK will this boost rankings on google.co.uk and decrease them on google.com etc?

If we are based in the UK but our customer base is worldwide should we not select anything?

Google just rolled out Penguin 3 so if you have a dubious backlink profile you will most likely have been affected.  You may want to look at cleaning up your backlink profile to get back on track.

More info on the update here:
http://searchengineland.com/google-penguin-3-0-worldwide-rollout-still-process-impacting-1-english-queries-206286

I think the 404 errors would be more of a concern.  A large .htaccess shouldn't be a problem especially if you are only talking about a few hundred redirects.

In this situation it shouldn't be an issue as it isn't a purchased link.  However to be on the safe side you may be best to make the site wide link a no follow. You could place a non site wide link somewhere else on the blog that points back to the main site if you would like to pass some link juice.

You can find a discussion on site wide links here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2340986/Are-All-Sitewide-Links-Unnatural

I don't think it is anything to be too concerned about.

To be on the safe side you could block traffic coming from that referrer:
http://www.htaccess-guide.com/deny-visitors-by-referrer/

I'd contact the owner of www.sswug.org about the 301 redirect as this may be something that was set up in error if you had been in talks with them.

The http://www.phoenixhollo.com site is displaying a copy of your site in an iFrame so I don't think this is anything to worry about ie. no duplicate content issue.  See here for more info:
http://moz.com/community/q/can-iframes-count-as-duplicate-content-on-either-page

Google just rolled out Penguin 3 so if you have a dubious backlink profile you will most likely have been affected.  You may want to look at cleaning up your backlink profile to get back on track.

More info on the update here:
http://searchengineland.com/google-penguin-3-0-worldwide-rollout-still-process-impacting-1-english-queries-206286

I'd contact the owner of www.sswug.org about the 301 redirect as this may be something that was set up in error if you had been in talks with them.

The http://www.phoenixhollo.com site is displaying a copy of your site in an iFrame so I don't think this is anything to worry about ie. no duplicate content issue.  See here for more info:
http://moz.com/community/q/can-iframes-count-as-duplicate-content-on-either-page

Like others have mentioned you should only have one H1.  This should appear on the page before any other headings such as h2, h3 etc.

The styling shouldn't matter so the h1 doesn't need to be in a larger font size than the h2's.

In this situation it shouldn't be an issue as it isn't a purchased link.  However to be on the safe side you may be best to make the site wide link a no follow. You could place a non site wide link somewhere else on the blog that points back to the main site if you would like to pass some link juice.

You can find a discussion on site wide links here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2340986/Are-All-Sitewide-Links-Unnatural

I don't think it is anything to be too concerned about.

To be on the safe side you could block traffic coming from that referrer:
http://www.htaccess-guide.com/deny-visitors-by-referrer/