I know you are just trying to gather information, but there is no way for people to specify what they mean about their vote without doing a separate post like this.

The most popular answer, and the one I used, is that it depends on the conditions. But that will mean different things to different people. For instance, we would cleat it in light air but try not to in heavy air. Maybe other people do it the other way around.

Rick always found that in heavy air when he is out on the trapeze, holding the mainsheet, uncleated, helps to keep you "glued" to the side of the boat, so it is serving almost as a sissy line.