Funny thing about HOs....
71 Squadron had a squad op yesterday in Ki84s. I was in one. There was a point when a spitfire, to my perception, was whizzing past at an odd angle and I got an instant, single-ping, lucky-as hell hit sprite on his canopy as he flew past. After he passed me he went POOF and I got the kill. To me it wasn't even remotely a HO, as it felt I was at least 20 to 30 degrees off to the side and he caught a lucky round from my wing cannon that was closest to him.
Anyways, I went back and checked the film to get a screenshot of this, and ... well I'll be dipped! It was a total straight-on HO, and I didn't hit him once, but about 20 times all in the canopy. It wasn't really lucky that I hit him, but rather lucky he didn't hit me back.
So what I'm saying is in the heat of battle your might not think of a certain shot as a HO even if it is. It could be that the person in the 3-on-1 just didn't want to take a chance, and took any shot presented. Or it could be like the fight I had yesterday, where it really doesn't appear to be a full-on HO until you check the film viewer.
I don't get angry at hotards anymore. Just a little annoyed. Too many variables to hold them accountable for it (for the most part). I do, however, get angry when they HO to the point of ramming every time (they don't even bother flying, just kamikaze into the enemy, reup, repeat).