Whoever did your deck did mine. I swear people don't use their brain for designing functionality...

Looks: sink that single nail or screw. Then fill it in and paint over it, nobody will ever see how this shit was put together between now and when a fat fuck accidentally leans on the rail and lands 10ft down the hill.

Functionality: these 3/8 screws backed up with nuts will keep the structural integrity of this deck even is a fat... That fat fuck leans on it every day of the year for 30 years. Yeah it'll look odd for like 5 minutes until no one cares because it's a god damn deck and not the beautiful face of an Angel.