[Yads]

I guess Buzz you fall into the school of Omaha 8 players that don't raise pre flop. That's fine. I personally don't see O8 as a river game, I see it almost purely as a starting hand game and to a lesser extent a flop game.
Ok so Nick anounces to the good players that their non nut lows are no good. Ok fine. First off, how many good players are at this table? If there's a hand full they're probably A) not in the hand, or B) if they're in the hand they wouldn't pay off when all they had is a non nut low anyway. So you're getting 1 extra small bet from these good players when they wouldn't have paid you off in the first place. Now if there are more than a handful I would say you need to find yourself a better table.
The second disadavantage is that Nick loses more when he does lose. So by that logic should we only ever raise with the nuts on the river? Of course not that is pure nonsense, ok he raises before the flop and it comes all high cards in hearts, ok so what? Fold, next hand please.
The key to any poker is to get your money in, when you have the best of it, that's what his raise would accomplish, if he's playing in a game where his raise allows your opponent to put him on an exact hand, then A, he's not raising enough or B, find another game. It's the same in any game, even holdem. If all you're raising with are the top 4 hands, nobody will pay you off, if you never bluff, nobody will pay you off. The key is to mix up your game and to get your money in when you have the best of it.
PS. I know you're a good player Buzz and your strategy seems to work for you, I'm just offering up a different point of view. Since there seems to be so much concensus to never raise pre flop in O8.