I have been observing aikidoka lately and noted that, when they are uke, they often have one arm hanging limb when attacking or when following a technique. I have always found this very strange.

I always keep my other hand on an appropriate height, so I can deflect atemi, or take over when the technique isn't performed well. It's a reflex, but something that seems to bother some people since I plainly grab their hand when they try to give an atemi to the face that doesn't come fast enough. In other cases the atemi is deflected and this ends up confusing tori.

I have been told that I'm not attacking right, that I should not be deflecting (or even having my hand at that height), but on the other hand, isn't it rather silly to completely commit to an attack without at least protecting yourself to some degree?
One of the more reasonable explanations I have been given is that you still can block kicks to the groin if your hand is low.

I like to see uke's role as more than just an attacker. In my view the uke-role serves as a means to learn to take the initiative, should you ever be confronted with an aggressor. Once you know what kind of reaction a certain attack can trigger, you can anticipate and control the confrontation. Deflection is, in my humble opinion, a part of it.

Tsuki, shomen-uchi etc. are all moves we use as atemi when we are tori, meaning that if your attacks are sloppy, your atemi probably will be too, resulting in sloppy techniques in general. At least, that's my own personal experience.

Any opinions on this?