Curious to see how people play...

Good poll, but I believe you should correct your last two options...

Started on Master and Finish on Master... forces you to learn the game and it's mechanics real quick.

Went from Adept to Expert pretty quick. Its still easy, but I'm not one of those guys whose RL ego depends on beating a game at the hardest difficulty. I just like to soak up the atmosphere.

I started in Expert, given how easy Fallout 3 got in the later levels, I expected Skyrim to be the same, and I wanted to at least earn my godliness.
I switched to Master once my prediction was fulfilled. And the game is still quite easy :cryvaultboy:

I never touch the difficulty myself. I don't have any need to make it harder or easier, because I honestly think it is about fine as it is. I find some fights that are cake walks and some that are murder to get through, but for the most part they are just right to me. Plus if I want to play something that punishes me for playing I have Demon's Souls and Dark Souls and I just need to unhook the HDMI cable from the computer and plug it back into the PS3 to play those.

Started on master and will finish on master no matter how many times they [censored] me

Every destruction mage everywhere

Started on adept suspecting the game would be too easy, but worried about the tedium slider (which they've improved after all).
Playing a totally unplanned, non-optimal character, but I couldn't stay on adept. I go back and forth between master and expert. Expert is a little too easy, but some fights on master are tedious, such as witches with apparently hundreds of hp.
Anyway, expert seems more fun, but not enough challenge. Master is less fun, but better challenge. New characters with less random skill choices will definitely be master.