Perhaps decades ago, the distinction between RF and internet-based operators was stronger. But nowadays, most people move seamlessly between RF and -IS (Internet Service) operation without a thought. There are extremes on both ends, but little of the existential angst you might find between, say, analogue FM and digital FM operators.
Operators that use the internet exclusively often do so because they don't want to install a mobile rig in their car, or can't set up a home RF station. In other cases, people have specific objectives that don't need RF-based operation, such as weather station reporting, telemetry, maintaining objects, etc. The CWOP (Civilian Weather Observer Program) has servers in amateur IP space, although most stations aren't run by amateur radio operators.
Even operating exclusively on -IS, there's a lot of cross-over. For example, if you set up APRSDroid to run on your wi-fi, you'll be able to see the raw packet data and watch RF traffic being gated in real-time. So, you're not completely insulated from the RF world. Certainly other software does the exact same thing. Once you understand how to read the raw packet data, you'll start to see the ebb and flow (as well as the huge reach) of our local APRS network.
Some people operate on -IS to conserve our resources. Keep in mind that 144.39 MHz is a shared simplex channel. It's highly doubtful that this single frequency could accommodate all of the metro APRS traffic. If you intend to broadcast your home location every three minutes (as some do), then maybe APRS-IS would be a considerate alternative that wouldn't consume vast amount of limited RF resources. This is also why objects (e.g. repeater locations/info) are run on the -IS, and OpenSpot stations maintain an APRS presence without creating congestion for RF-based operators.
You may also find your APRS-IS station information being broadcast over RF. For whatever reason, the Faribault gateway (N0QVC-1) takes a lot of internet-based traffic and transmits it over RF as a STATUS packet -- which means it won't be re-gated, thankfully. I'm not sure what the radius is on this "service", but I've seen -IS stations as far from Faribault as Hugo being re-transmitted. With this "service", RF-only operators over a wide area can be made aware of the existence of your station, provided they are watching real-time raw packet data... because it's just packaged as STATUS packets from N0QVC-1.
I've never heard any -IS only operators make disparaging remarks about RF-only operation, though that's a favour that is often not reciprocated by RF-only operators. A lot of it has to do with EmComm, and the false idea that the internet is unreliable in emergencies. Whatever disaster that wipes out the metro internet would be quite likely to take out a lot of the RF-based network as well. In fact, the RF-based network would most useful in such a case to connect to internet-based traffic outside the affected area -- so the two work hand-in-hand.
All of this is just to emphasise that you should never feel apologetic about being limited to an -IS only APRS station. For years, I kept an -IS station active so that I could receive messages. If more of our local operators did that, APRS messaging would be much more compelling.
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