Westcoaststyle is a knowledgeable guy but I have to disagree with his explanations to the questions you were asking.

Damper = device used to convert the springs movement into heat to slow it down.

Strut (Macphearson strut) = a damper that also acts as a supporting piece of the suspension. You'll notice that many cars with struts will have bearings in their upper caps because they actually turn in the STRUT tower.

Shock = a damper that doesn't play the same part in the geometry of the suspension as a strut would. To the best of my knowledge, our 92+ civics with their "double wishbone" suspensions have shocks.

I hope that makes sense... My explanations probably aren't the best so if you want, I might be able to provide some examples later.

To lower your Civic properly, you'll want a setup that allows your suspension to move in a range that will allow it to work properly. That means you should have enough ground clearance to drive where you usually do and you should have enough suspension travel for the suspension to do it's job. 2" IMHO, is a bit lower than optimal but I do admit it looks good. You'll also want shocks that are properly matched to the springs you choose.

A camber kit will make your tires last a longer time but the most important thing to do is to get an alignment.

While we're on the topic of terms and definitions, I should say that technically, a coilover is a setup where the coil spring goes around (over) most of the shock. So our cars have coilovers from the factory. But I know what you mean. The main benefit to height adjustable setups like the GC sleeves or threaded body setups other than being able to set your ride height, is that you can cornerweight the vehicle. A lot of people don't bother with this stuff and for street driving, it's really not too critical unless your settings are WAY off so regular springs are a cheaper good solution if you know you won't be raising and lowering the car.

Good luck to you and if you have any other questions, just ask.