The topic of feeding live has become a source of heated debate on this site. It's a hot button issue, the "abortion" of cornsnakes.com. There isn't a middle ground; those who are against it will not be swayed, and visa versa.
Most people on this site passionately and wholeheartedly disagree with the practice, and are equipped with well-thought, documented forms of argument against it. If there are regular users who feed live, I assume they refrain from discussing it. Those who bring it up usually find themselves at odds with everyone. I would say not to let that discourage you from gleaming knowledge from the wonderful users on this site.
I guess it's like my relationship with my coworkers- I adore them, gain a great deal of insight from them, but refrain from discussing religion/gun rights/capital punishment with them, because I would hate for our relationship to be marred by a difference in
opinion.
I personally don't see any benefits of feeding live, and that's that. I also really don't think anyone who does it is a "sicko" or engaging in sick entertainment. If I told my boyfriend right now, "go pick up a live mouse- this is going down", he would jump at the opportunity, and I don't fault him for that. (Although I wouldn't let it happen! We would end up with a pet mouse, not a meal for the snake!)
I can respect the sport of hunting, although I would never engage in it myself. It's sort of the same thing to me. It could be argued that hunting doesn't put your pet in danger, but I'm ignoring that