>>For what it's worth, I only use NULLs (when I have a say in the matter) when NULL has business significance (i.e. a user left a survey question or some other column blank).
>>
>>If there is no business need to differentiate between a NULL and an empty string, my personal vote is for empty string.
>
>Sorry, I may be misunderstanding, but "(i.e. a user left a survey question or some other column blank)" seems to contrast with "If there is no business need to differentiate between a NULL and an empty string, my personal vote is for empty string". Unless you consider the user leaving a survey question blank as a business need. Was the field required or optional? If it was optional, it makes sense to leave it blank. If it was required and not filled out (and validation let it pass) then it makes sense to make it NULL because there's a business need to act on that later.
>
>Are we saying the same thing but in different ways?

It sounds that way to me..