I like to sometimes approach things in a principled way, and I'm trying to approach DIR as a system based on a set of well thought-out principles that are consistently applied... here are some of the principles that have been mentioned:
1) The "standardize first, ask questions later" principle, if you don't mind me being humorous (or "standardize unless there's a NEED to customize", if you do). The idea being that less variation means more predictability, and so on... Applying this principle to backmount vs. sidemount leads some of us to conclusion that we should standardize on backmount, since for X% of the dives people do (be it 99% or whatever), there's no need for other configurations. Regardless of whether one agrees with the latter or not, it's a perfectly fine principle, and if we were to apply this principle to imperial vs. metric, I think we'd standardize on metric... after all, what's the "need" for imperial? You can do 100% of the dives in metric. Even the advocates of standardization acknowledge that it can get confusing. It should be a no-brainer.
2) The "don't standardize unless in self defense" principle (or "don't standardize unless there's a NEED to standardize"). The idea being that some of us don't like standards, or the particular standards feel too restrictive, or we like to exercise our free will, or it's too much PITA to change established habits, or one can't reach consensus, whatever. Applying this principle to metric vs. imperial leads most of us to conclusion that one should just let it be. After all, people have done mixed dives, and it's not a big deal. I wonder, could we apply the same principle to sidemount vs. backmount? I accept that the answer might be "no", but if not, then why not? I am not trying to question that decision, but I do feel the rationale I've heard on occasion is fuzzy.
Both in case of sidemount vs. backmount, and imperial vs. metric, some feel that standardization yields benefits, others feel that it works just fine, the boundary is fuzzy, and different principles seem to apply depending on the situation. I realize there may be a good reason for that difference, yet I do not feel that the reason behind it has been sufficiently well spelled out. I'm willing to buy into those reasons, whatever they may be, but perhaps we could try to make those reasons a bit less obscure?
3) The cost vs. benefit analysis principle. This one pretends to be scientific and rigorous by using important words like "cost", "benefit", and "analysis". It even pretends to be more common-sense and represent a more moderate point of view, so it automatically gains our sympathy. But, unless you try to actually objectively quantify some of that cost and benefit, it's probably much less than what it sounds like. So, what are the costs? How many accidents happened due to a misunderstanding between metric and imperial? How many happened because backmount and sidemount divers happened to be on the same team? If there is no such data, then calling it "analysis" is a stretch.