I am dedicating an entire post to respond.
I’ll try to publish it by tomorrow …

I’ve read a lot of your posts, and I think you love the game of soccer just as much as I do. From my experience when you love something you respect it. You don’t cheat on it because in the end it all comes back around. Respect for the game is a missing ingredient in the modern soccer experience. I think soccer is the best game in the world, but when i see diving, pulling shirts, hand ball goals, reckless tackles, dissent to refs, disrespect for refs, and more, I am ashamed to be so readily affiliated with the sport.

With the right attitude, passion, honesty and love for the game there is no way to lose. Even in defeat we are humble and can appreciate the opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Its a win-win situation.

When you cheat its a lose-lose situation. When you win a game the joy and fulfillment is hallow and fleeting. Your subconscious knows the truth.

Looking forward to a response.

You ask a very interesting and tough question. It depends on many factors:
1) The referee.
2) Are you going to lose possession?
3) Do you want to slow the game down?
4) Do you want to try to get the other player a yellow or red?
5) Does your team need a free kick in the opponents final third?

And the list goes on and on. There are so many scenarios to consider, and the correct decision to “dive / exaggerate” is a split second one that comes with experience.

I’ll touch on point #1 (the ref), and leave the others for separate articles …

You have to judge what “kind” of referee you have. Is he calling any tiny foul? If so, no need for diving.

If people are getting hacked and the ref isn’t calling anything, then exaggerating a foul is probably in order.

Is he pulling yellow cards like crazy? Maybe you can get an opponent a card with exaggerating …

Does the ref seem like a “no-nonsense” guy. Then you might want to be careful, because you’ll get a yellow for diving.

Again, experience and experimentation …