I try to avoid the HO in the MA. I do this because I don't want to a faceful of 'vitural' lead and I don't want to collide and have the fight end there. That being said, I will take the HO if the situation presents itself. I hate them and will blurt out on 200 when someone clearly took the HO when they could have maneuvered for something else. They usually end in collisions or two wrecked planes. However, there are times I will take them:
A) If it is a furball and the HO is the resolution I have
B) If outnumbered and the HO is the resolution I have
C) If the enemy a/c is maneuvering for the HO shot and no time to evade
D) If I try to evade, but I see he is still going to get a HO shot
I am not an elite "Dogfighter". I am improving and always looking to improve, but I guess I am just not at that uber level yet where I can sit on the mountain and tell everyone else how they are doing it wrong. I have had a lot of success in my ACM lately and for that I am thankful. However, I think a HO, cheap or not, is not as much a part of ACM or 'newbness' as it is a guns resolution situation. People take it, not by accident, but because the want it. I have had vets take it and the two-weekers alike. The time I think it is exceptionally dweebish is when the guy starts at like 3K out and maintains that steady HO orientation all the way in. Kind of like suicide buff in that regard. However, in any other situation, it just is what it is.
When I am out flying, my goal is to kill the other guy and make it back to land. To do that I will proudly and without hesitation take the shot I have. If all I am going to get is the other pilots face, then so be it. I try to avoid it, but there are just times you can't.
Your sense of nobility may vary...