We can definitely agree that the examples are too simple to present any readability issues with any method of writing them short of an IOCCC entry. I do not ag

We can definitely agree that the examples are too simple to present any readability issues with any method of writing them short of an IOCCC entry. I do not agree with the conclusions you draw at all, but it is hard to continue the discussion without examples. There are definitely cases where an else clause is the natural choice, but I believe that these are in the minority.