In the case of my car..
The oil filter adapter would leak like a seive when the engine was cold...
Once the motor warmed up.. the leak would subside.
I also noticed that when I "first started the car", it'd puke oil really bad, but if I "blipped" the throttle the leak would subside.
(enter speculation mode)
what I THINK was happening is that Oil would pour out of the gasket under idle conditions, but when I blipped the throttle the pressure increase would force the oil to bypass the leak.
If I let the car idle when cold, it would pump ALL the oil out of the motor before the motor could "warm up".. blipping the throttle would get the oil PAST the leaking area and it wouldn't leak so bad.
Once warm, it wouldn't leak.
Now, this is just "what happened to me", I'm not saying by any stretch of the imagination that anyone should "continue to drive" their car with a leaking oil filter adapter gasket.
it's not a hard job... a little patience and some contortionist experience helps!