Thank you very much for the list of bugs!
Maybe the original could be 'hidden' in the <defs> section (like <symbol>'s, with a toggle in the dialog to 'unhide' it for editing).
Alternatively the first clone tile could be skipped, as proposed in Bug #309873 in Inkscape: “skip first tile clone” https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/309873
I see. Has there been any discussion on which solution is preferred? I would personally prefer to see the second solution, and possibly some sort of border appear around the original when one of the clones is selected with the Tile Clones box active. Does that seem acceptable?
579617 13 of 17 Wallpaper groups at symmetry tab of clones behaves erratically https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/579617
Okay, that's a programming issue, I can't help there unfortunately...
553912 Cannot create offset parallel tiled clones of vertical or horizontal lines https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/553912
This can also get solved with the two additional tile bound methods proposed.
412768 Clone tiling needs "Array" between points option https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/412768
This sounds a bit like alignment or interpolation? With the option to define fixed boundaries, it should be easier to achieve what the user wants by using a boundary box whose size is X/n and Y/m (X and Y being the page dimensions, and n/m the number of copies).
319648 Symmetry tab needs help on modes https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/319648
281719 clone dialog improvement https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/281719
Basically, the currently proposed symmetry preview area. :) It shouldn't hurt to make it bigger like suggested here though.
171900 Tile Clones: User defined transformation order https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171900
Unless the user has examples in mind that are not limited to rotation, I'm actually thinking of an option to address this in a separate dock for rotations only. Basically, a checkbox in Scale for "Scale from Object center" or "Scale from Rotation Center."
171804 Tiled Clone Trace Enhancements https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171804
This is both a programming and interface issue... I'm not sure how this could be addressed...
170835 Absolute units for shift in Tile Clones https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/170835
Covered with the tile boundary selection. :)
170823 Selecting all (tiled) clones of an object https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/170823
An extra button then. I could add that to the interface, as well as adding back "select original" (since there needs to be an original).
170745 cancel button for for tile cloning https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/170745
Sounds like something not limited to tile cloning. Some filters are also guilty of big RAM consumption. It'd be better to have a button next to some progress bar to cancel the operation.
C) most often reported bug with 'Tiled Clones'
168651 "Tiled Clones" inside transformed groups broken https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/168651
Ah, another programming bug.
I can't help with programming unfortunately, I don't have the skills... But it seems our current discussions cover a big part of the interface requests. Thanks for the bug links! I'll start a wiki page later this week with a blueprint proposal.