Ironically, I logged on to the forums to ask the exact same question. I've been using OF for a while now and am in the midst of getting back to the GTD basics...
(Example: I just reorganized my contexts to more accurately reflect my working style -
http://simplicityisbliss.com/2011/06...e-on-contexts/ - a big help).
I work in theatre which is a completely deadline based creative endeavor. So I'm really used to working with deadlines. Which means that I find myself dropping deadlines into OF all the time. I know that a core idea is to put deadlines into a calendar but that doesn't work because then I end up with a calendar with an overwhelming amount of deadlines which makes the calendar difficult to use for actually tracking appointments, etc. Another side effect of this is that I put deadlines in for everything, including really trivial things. I think I do it as a way of prioritizing what I need to do. I'll get an email that I don't want to respond to right away and I'll deadline it for tomorrow and then I have 25 things due tomorrow and I have to then re-prioritize that list, and the same things the next day, etc... I'm happy to re-prioritize in a fluid way but I'm getting a little overwhelmed.
Also, a lot of things I technically can start now so I end up with a ton things that I input available today which I don't think is very useful.
So, I'm looking for some serious advice on achieving the balance between using deadlines in OF and not over abusing the start/due date function. Part in parcel with this, I think, is some more work on reviewing. Maybe using the weekly review to manage start/due dates.
Thanks Forum!