Who said anything about there being sides? There are people who like sleeping without any shelter at all. If they are able to survive and enjoy it while doing so, more power to them.

I'm just a little agog at people who go about insisting "hammocks are only for jungles." You won't see someone going to threads about tents and claiming "tents are only for campgrounds." Tents and hammocks go wherever they are taken, as are RVs and any other portable shelter. Hammocks are hung in jungles, deserts, grassy fields, mountains, billboards, parking lots, backyards, coastal areas, hotel rooms and bedrooms - pretty much anywhere there is a post, tree, stand, rock, door or the back end of a truck. The people hanging them like to sleep in them - because they can't get up off the ground very well, because they have a bad back/knee/ankle - or just because they want to. What's the problem with that? It's not like there's a safety issue - we don't hear or read about people found "frozen to death because they foolishly slept in the hammock out in the Rockies in January." We hear about people who are not prepared - so urge people to be prepared. Don't keep insisting that you can't use whatever they're using, tell them to use it safely and accept whatever weight penalty that entails. Like all winter campers do.