The overuse of HO and ramming has been with this genre since Day #1. While in theory you can avoid being HO'd and rammed, in practice it's not so easy. Especially in a furball where half the planes are N1K's or Hurri IIC's who are looking for the HO shot and not much else.
The worst problem, though, is that players shouldn't HAVE TO avoid being HO'd or rammed. Fighter to fighter HO's should be so hard to do unless both parties bore right in on each other that it's not worth trying. Think about how small these planes are from the forward aspect, how restricted the forward view is, and how fast the closure is.
And the collision code just got wonked somehow and people *are* taking advantage because they've learned how to induce a crash on someone else's front end while avoiding it on theirs.