[miahi]

For some reason I find a query that uses (+) way easier to read than verbose outer joins. Probably because it's near the field and you see immediately "hey, this can be null".

Yes, it makes the query harder to migrate to other DMBS and to collaborate with non-Oracle persons.

[ibejoeb]

To make it terser, omit `outer` because it is redundant. Now it's up to whatever you find easier to type. Definitely `left` or `right` for me. (+) is a really awkward sequence on QWERTY, at least.