Originally Posted by AndrewP
You can check that the dishing is correct by putting the wheel in your bike backwards, and seeing if the rim is still centred between the brakes. Tension should be even all around on each side. This can be done by listening to the pitch when you pluck the spokes (dont want wheel reflectors for doing this).
+1
It's not really a choice. A rear wheel requires a specific amount of dish offset and spoke tension differential to center the rim. The center plane of the wheel rim should be on the center plane of the bike's frame. The offset dish is to make room for the cogs. When tension is added to spokes on one side of the wheel an offsetting amount must be added to the other side. 8, 9, & 10-speed rear wheels typically have 35% more tension on the driveside than on the non-driveside. Non-driveside "pulling" spokes are usually the first to break because the lower tension allows more flexing which causes metal fatigue metal in the "J" bend at the hub. Broken spokes usually means insufficient tension on both sides. However, the quality of the spokes also affects how durable they are.
It's good to learn wheel maintenance, whether you or someone else fixes it.
Al