This should probably be added to the frequently made suggestions; it comes up every few months, and Alex has already replied "Tried it, wasn't good."
Here's the quote from back when it was Starfarer:
Yeah, I actually tried it as a toggle early on. It was a huge pain to mentally keep track of the state, even with some UI help. Also takes longer to only turn it on for a brief period - you have to press the button twice, instead of press/release. Just didn't work well.
This is why I am asking for an option, as opposed to asking the hold feature be removed, like pretty-much any game with movement altering functions allows the player to do. Alex's assessment of the idea is entirely subjective. If he thinks its hard to keep track of the state, he should try keeping track of the appropriate buttons when an entire part of the same hand is forced to maintain an awkward contact with another button, the performance of which by the way, causes actual physical pain for my hand.
Also personally, Iv'e never come across a situation where I've wanted to switch between the two, mid maneuver, where the speed difference between the two methods would matter at all. The crux of the matter is still that this is entirely up to preference, there isn't a "best way"
Which is why I don't want Alex to remove the current functionality as I know of people who like it that way, all I am asking is for an in-game option to change it to a toggle, for people like me who would prefer it that way, or even as far as my case, find the current function entirely un-usable.