I always say it's a personal choice or "it's your quilt so you should do it the way you want. You need to like it!"
Agree: No quilt police!!
Personally I prefer to pre-wash my fabrics, always have; machine quilting over hand; would like to join a quilt guild for the friendships and ideas,but I just haven't found the time to do it yet!! sometimes steam, sometimes no steam; I usually use cotton thread, but on occasion I have used polyester; and I press to the dark rather than pressing the seams open.