I certainly agree about doing things in different ways all with success. That is the nature of our hobby. Regarding the vent line, yes it is in dirty air but I have always flown off of fairly dirty fields and have never had any crud in the tanks from that practice. If I was really worried about dirt from the vent, I would probably use a filter in the vent line. The long vent lines we commonly use in gassers acts as a bit of a filter all by itself. The tiny particles that might come in with the the very slow velocity vent airflow can get trapped on the oily surface of the vent tube and are washed clean every time we fuel the airplane.
Over the years, I've seen so many filter problems both in gas and glo planes that I stay away from them whenever possible, except on my fuel can. I do like the felt tank filters though but just don't use them as I haven't felt the need for them.