Egg temperature for meringue All the experts insist that a meringue must be made with room-temperature eggs. Why?

I ask because my experience runs completely opposite, at least when it comes to flourless/nut-based desserts where the principal (possibly only) ingredients are egg whites, sugar, and nut meal. If I fold the nuts into a meringue that started with room-temperature eggs, it collapses dramatically. If the meringue started with cold eggs, it still loses some volume when the nuts are added, but not nearly as much. Also, baking the cold meringue is much less likely to result in a runny mess.

Am I doing something wrong, or is there a secret exception to the room-temperature rule that people neglect to mention?
The reason they're supposed to be warm is that cold eggs tend to curdle, and de-emulsify. This is only really an issue if you're adding a bunch of fat (because otherwise you don't get an emulsion). They should also get a bit bigger, which may explain why they seem to shrink more when you fold things into them.

You can always try adding a little cream of tartar in order to stabilize them, which might help.