Which type of steel do you prefer? Carbon? Stainless? Why?

I'm not really looking at the subtleties of different types of carbon steels or different types of stainless or semi-s steels. I'm really asking about that first level of choice.

Reading outdoor forums there are those with real clear preferences to carbon knife blades. I have both types. I lean toward stainless (or "semi-stainless") for the most part. Still, at an early age I noticed how sharp some carbon blades can get.

My carbon steel blade was an Old Hickory butcher knife I bought in college as a cheap blade for digging/cutting plants during a botany class - I planned on it getting beat up with the digging, but it was cheap. I stored it a thick taped-up cardboard tube of all things. I still have the knife and it is still amazingly sharp.

Since then I've pretty much stuck with stainless or semi-s blades, so I didn't have to worry about rust/corrosion.

A few years back I had the finish on my Ritter Mk3 damaged when - without my knowledge - someone in my son's Scout troop washed it, dunked it in a chlorine sanitizing solution, and air-dried it (sigh). I can only imagine what the knife would have looked like if it had been a carbon steel blade.