Bob F wrote:

I really like both my feet at near zero - straight across the board. Virtually
all the instructors I ride with are similar.

Symmetrical stances allow you to exploit riding switch, which is fun and
also necessary if you are at all interested in freestyle. They also
allow you to land jumps more easily. Furthermore, they are popular and
therefore ski schools sometimes mandate that instructors teach in that
stance.

However, if your goal is pure carving, then forward stances work better
IMO. The reason is that they allow you to keep your weight more over
the edge, and also to use your knees and legs more, whereas straight
across means hanging your butt out over the edge and using a lot of
ankle flexion.

Of course, you get some stuff in-between. Rob Stevens, who is the
national director for CASI (Canadian Association of Snowboard
Instructors) and also a level IV instructor, rides +30, -5 or something
like that in softies. He posts quite a lot on bomberonline, well worth
searching for his posts for tips.

Neil