I don't understand your post/replies. Do you have a problem with people using britishisms? The "defence" spelling is also a britishism, so I'm not sure where you're going with all that.

"Guys" is not any more gender neutral than "Lads" (they both are often used in a gender-neutral way, but they're etymologically male). "Folks" is what I personally use if I specifically want something gender-neutral, but "lads" is definitely appropriate if the author is speaking to men.

Which brings me back to "this is a lot of noise for nothing".