BR: we can all cite specific circumstances that support our own individual arguments. I'm not arguing that there aren't conditions at night that are tantamount to IFR. There certainly are. I'm only arguing that these do not form the preponderance of such operations everywhere, nor do the fact they exist make all night flying like that. I've already gotten into "trouble" for citing personal experience (where certain others have not...) so I won't go there again.
I think it comes down to the usual argument of "What is the right kind of flying?", or "What is the right way of doing it?" Those with certain backgrounds and experience, particularly in highly complex military environments, simply can't fathom operating at night except in a certain way. Meanwhile, others, some with many thousands of hours (that's not me, to be clear) in "floppy stick" (that's a great term!), non-IFR certified equipment, don't see any problem with tackling it as a true VFR operation. And of course the line gets a bit blurry, since most helicopters are gyro-equipped at some level. No doubt there is some reliance on that, correct or incorrect, legal or not legal.
All I'm saying is that the situation is not black and white, if you'll pardon the pun. Differences in culture, training, doctrine, experience and environment make it so that some people are quite comfortable in the dark VFR, others not so much without making it a de facto IFR flight. Those who tend towards the latter often carry that over into the expression that any such thing as night VFR should be outlawed and that those who profess any sort comfort in a night VFR environment are all cowboys who are ultimately doomed. And indeed this has lead to restrictions on night VFR flight in some places, but not the US, not yet, anyway.