Depends on situation only to me. Depends if I want a lot of motion in my joints at the time or not, strength or timing.. finesse over power. It all depends on the situation.

I like to hold all in aikido ^^ Fun to see the opponents struggle, but on other mods, i guess i play relaxed for the most part.
I don't really prefer either, i usually use both in a combination.

/sumup of thread, both are good, depending on situation.

Relax ofc! \m/

meow :3

I use relax/hold hybrid, for maximum effeciency!

I tend to use relax most of the time.

Relax all the way, I think it's better for fighting in general

:V
I find that it all depends on both the mod, and the kind of mod. If I'm doing ABD I find that I switch back and forth between hold and relax. In mods like judo, twinswords I just hold since it's far easier and those mods are mostly luck.
However if you look at it from a different perspective, they both have their ups and downs. I find that relax is easier to get used to since you're body appears floppy at the beginning. However since I spend most of my time playing SP, I rarely use relax since in madmans it's not quite helpful to have your arm flopping around.
Hold is by far harder if you want to look realistic since you need to spend more time manipulating each joint into position, it won't just fly there. However when you look at someone like Oblivion, they use hold to great effect in their replays.
So pretty much, I go back and forth.

I like to use both. Depends really on the situation, I think if used properly, the can both be really effective fighting styles. I usually switch every between hold and relax every game, so I never let the opponent fully learn you style, which means its harder for them to predict your game style, which gives you the upper hand. But in situations like duels, or matchs where you try hard, I usually use relax, and I focus a lot on protecting the joints and getting the upper hand at the start of the match.

I relax all the time

I usually use relax at every mod i play.