Hidden fasteners or plain deck screws - where do you land?

I'm on your brother-in-law's side here. Did my own deck with hidden clips about five years back and I've never once missed seeing screw heads. It's not just the look either. Surface screws collect gunk in the countersink, the wood starts checking around them after a few seasons, and I've pulled plenty of stripped ones out of older decks to know they're no fun anyway.

As for the warping worry, I had to swap one board two summers ago after a big limb came down on the railing and cracked a deck board. The clip system made it easier than I expected. You unscrew the clip from underneath on the open side, slide the board out, done. Took maybe twenty minutes with a helper. The honest downsides are cost, clips run noticeably more per square foot, and you have to keep your spacing consistent or the grooves show gaps. But your brother-in-law is the one staring at that deck every day, so if he wants the clean surface, let him have it. He'll thank you when he's barefoot on it without catching a raised screw head.

I helped a buddy pull up three boards on his clip-fastened deck last summer after a downspout dumped water on one corner, and that job settled the debate for me. Each board had clips every joist along both edges, so getting one bad board out meant undoing a dozen of those little stainless clips with everything creaking overhead. Then the replacement board had to have grooves cut on both sides or the clips wouldn't grab, wich cut our lumber choices down to basially one stack at the yard.

First time posting here so bear with me, but I just finished a small ground-level platform off my back door and went with screws because the frame is only a foot off the dirt. I figured anything low to the ground stays damp longer, so I wanted to be able to pull a board and check for rot underneath whenever I feel like it. No idea if that logic holds for a raised deck like the one you two were arguing about. Curious whether the height off the ground changes anyone's take on the clip vs screw thing, or if it's purely a look and maintenance question either way.

We split the difference on my deck and it's worked out fine. Face-screwed everything but plugged the holes with matching wood glue and cut-offs, so from the patio chairs you honestly can't spot them. Best part is the boards still come out like normal screws, no clip gymnastics. Slower to do than clips though, lots of drilling and gluing on a weekend that was already hot.

Depends what the boards are made of, honestly. I put down about 400 square feet of composite a few years back with clips and the boards moved way more with the seasons than I expected. Come winter the gaps opened up enough that my key almost fell through between two of them. Wood does the same thing in a dry summer. Whatever system he picks, tell him to read the gap spec for the climate, not just slap it down to whatever looks right that day. Also worth checking the joist spacing before he buys clips, some systems want tighter framing than he might have.

Reading this as someone who just googled what a joist is, so forgive me. We're planning a small deck off our kitchen and my husband keeps changing his mind on this exact thing. One thing I can't picture though: that poster said he slid the broken board out from the open side, but what if the bad board is in the middle of the deck with good boards on both sides? Do you have to take out half the deck to swap one plank?