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I'd have thought there'd be a million different reasons why people arrive at an atheistic position, or any position. And I suspect that if you had to come up with the most basic 'type' it'd be something like 'atheist is the default position, you have to prove god not disprove god'. I'm agnostic myself

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An Agnostic is an Atheist without conviction. Historically it was an oratorical change, Atheists were thought of as asserting that there is no god, rather than simply not affirming one, so "Agnostic" was coined to assert a lack of knowing that there is a god.

As an aside, Atheists are perhaps the group of people most persecuted for holding an idea in history. Which is ironic since all they do is not hold its converse.

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Certainly agree with the second point - not convinced atheism is 100% the neutral starting point, but it's much closer than theism is.

On the issue of atheism vs agnosticism. The semantics are becoming blurrier these days with all the 'apathetic' atheists, where historically atheism was a very involved and pro-active statement. Nevertheless, I'm not sure an agnostic is exactly an atheist without conviction, though I'm aware many agnostics would be covered by that description. In my own case, I'm probably closer to being a theist without conviction - you certainly can't be an atheist swinging in either direction. You're right that agnosticism is a fence sitting position, but for many it's the result of some kind of process, as oppose to a generalized ambivalence or flakiness.

Also significant is that there are two very different types of agnostics: those who say they don't know, and those who assert it's impossible to know.

I personally can't see how any intellectually honest person can make a public argument that God does or does not exist with any kind of reasonable substance. If someone intuitively or emotionally believes in God then fine, I don't question their intelligence or challenge their beliefs. But to try and prove any of this through logic and method is futile, we just don't have access to the info.