No no, these are perfectly valid questions, and people ask them all the time.
- No, a project is only placed at the top of the new releases list when it's first made public. Until then, no problem.
- It makes sense to have a (public) project page before release, because you can use it to post devlogs and media, and have a conversation with potential fans.
- Probably Restricted, with a password that you only give to select people.
Hope this helps!