Daily thread: pros and cons vs the alternatives [v2]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not. The trade-offs here are not obvious to me and I keep flip-flopping.

This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks.

This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks. I tried three different approaches and none of them felt quite right.