OK....here goes.
For me it's simple...my only goal is to kill the enemy and land those kills...does that make me too careful? Well, that depends on the situation...1v1 I'll spend my E quickly to force the bandit to commit to a manuever...if he makes a mistake, I've got him, if not, then I extend and take another shot at it, on MY terms not his.
When flying with my sqd mates, a more agressive approach is needed in 2v2 or 3v3 engagements....I tend to not get in a hurry in these situations, which can sometimes cause problems for my sqdmates. Hang and I have very different mindsets regarding this type of fight, but we are squadmates and will only get better the more we fight together

Being a member of the 13th TAS, an all Pony squadron, lends itself to a different mindset. I believe the 51 is a superior fighter when flown correctly, using it's strengths wisely. However, slow this bird down for an extended time, especially low alt, and your asking to die.
As a squad, we benchmark our performance by K/D and K/S. Our goal as a squad, is to keep our k/d above 4.0 and our k/s above 2.0...we may not achieve this, but it's fun to try

Until HTC changes the scoring system, this will have to suffice.
I personally care about killing and landing my kills....to fly a sortie, kill 4 or 5 bandits, just to get shot down myself, is a total waste of time. The challenge is to kill 4 or 5 and successfully land those kills. Now to accomplish that is fun for me...for someone else to dictate to me what is fun and what is not, well, that's silly.
How others in this community have fun is none of my business. I may not understand their reasoning, but I have no right to criticize how they fly this sim

I am selfish in that I fly for MY personal enjoyment, not to please others.
For the ten years I've been doing this, I have always admired the pilots who killed with impunity...they were kinda untouchable.
I know that when I'm runnin away from some of you, it doesn't make you happy...however, when I come bak after you've forgotten all about me and I kill you, it makes me very happy

Different strokes I guess...would kinda be a boring place if we were all of the same mold.
<S> to all of you!
Ice