  Dense stellar systems in general and star clusters in particular have
recently regained the interest of the extragalactic and even cosmology
communities, due to the role they could play as actors and probes of
re-ionization, galactic archeology and the dark matter content of galaxies,
among many others. In the era of the exploitation and the preparation of large
stellar surveys (Gaia, APOGEE, 4MOST, WEAVE), of the detection of gravitational
waves mostly originating from dense regions like the cores of clusters (Ligo,
LISA), and in an always more holistic view of galaxy formation (HARMONI,
Euclid, LSST, soon to be known as the Vera Rubin Survey Telescope, VRST), a
complete theory on the formation and evolution of clusters is needed to
interpret the on-going and forthcoming data avalanche. In this context, the
community carries an effort to model the aspects of star cluster formation and
evolution in galactic and even cosmological context. However, it is not always
easy to understand the caveats and the shortcuts taken in theories and
simulations, and their implications on the conclusions drawn. I take the
opportunity of this document to highlight three of these topics and discuss why
some shortcuts taken by the community are or could be misleading.
