GWW, what a great post.
Robbing: Yes, we have all experience robbing. In July and August I try not to open hives but if a problem presents itself I open the hive in the evening and try not to wave honey frames or spill.
Dead Outs: to me colony collapse disorder, CCD, does not have an answer as to why the hive died. The name implies to me a dead hive for unknown reason.
Experience: to me, one?s learning is an independent factor with data observed and interpreted based on preexperiences. Simply put, some beeks learn amazingly fast. One of the smartest men i knew had an eight grade education whereas everyday, I worked with PhD level scienctist that some were flat out ignorant. Smart is independent of education!! I started with honeybees in the 1960?s but I can assure a person there are beeks with decades less experience that are superior in Bee knowledge compared to myself.
Dead hives: this will always bother me, WHY, WHAT I DO WRONG? I always inspect a deadout, even with a stereo microscope sometimes. I look at mites for chew marks, food stores, mold, water signs, number of dead bees, head in or clustered, etc. Seldom can I say exact cause with any degree of certainty due to so many factors. What is weird is when young, I never lost a hive, only kept 3. But back when I was young, no mites, no beetles, no herbicide, little pesticides, no nothing except thriving bees.