BJL,
I don't believe I've ever read so much complication over what is for me an essentially simple matter. I imagine that novice photographers reading your posts, who are thinking about getting more serious about photography, would not know whether they are coming or going.
I could be wrong, but my impression is that it has been established several years ago that anyone who wants to capture the most detail, and the widest dynamic range with the lowest noise that their camera is capable of, is advised to shoot in RAW mode.
Furthermore, when shooting in RAW mode, one need not be concerned about 'placement of midtones' which you mention so frequently.The concern is, at least my concern is, that I give the maximum exposure to the scene whilst still retaining full detail in any highlight areas that I consider are important to the composition.
The process is known as Expose To The Right (ETTR) which I know you are quite familiar with, so I think it would help in such duscussions if you were to state from the outset that you are proposing an alternative method to ETTR.
My impression is, that you are proposing a method which involves as little post-processing as possible of scenes that generally do not have a high contrast ratio. In fact, I recall in a previous post, you made the comment that you believe most photographs taken by the public at large are not of high-contrast scenes and do not require cameras with a high DR capability, which is no doubt true.
The problem here seems to be that we are both involved in quite different approaches to the art (or craft) of photography. I'll tell you what mine is, then you can tell me what yours is.
For me, when I take a photograph, I generally consider it as a form of extremely detailed note-taking of a scene which I find interesting for any reason. Whether or not I can reproduce that initial interest, or emotional impact, or even enhance it, during the post-processing of the image or print, is the challenge.
Sometimes, first attempts fall flat, and I put the image aside and perhaps return to it months or even years later, with the benefit of greater experience, greater skill (hopefully) and improved processing programs.
The essential point I'm making is that my style of photography is more of a peripatetic, opportunistic and unplanned style, as opposed to the photographer who largely creates the scene he's about to photograph, using various props, and/or controls the lighting, has a client, a time frame and a schedule he has to meet for business purposes.
I can understand that certain professional photographers may find that the jpegs out-of-the-camera are sufficient for their purposes when time constraints are important and getting the image to the client as quickly as possible is a priority.
This is not my situation. Maybe it's yours. So please tell us, BJL, what your situation is, regarding your photographic style.