Which "others"?

Cite one example.

This case was accidental misuse, as might happen with any tool.

You also claim that:

(1) "The rope trick does not isolate and fix the crank pulley from turning as your remove or tighten the crank pulley bolt." (2) "You risk damaging the timing belt crank pulley "gear" alignment detente (the tooth that aligns it to the crankshaft). (3) The torque necessary to remove and replace that crank pulley bolt can easily damage it, yet most seem to be pretty lucky."

1- There is no measurable "turning" force applied to the balancer/pulley when the bolt is removed or tightened. Thus there is no turning force to "isolate" the pulley from.

2- The "alignment detent" has no "tooth that aligns it to the crankshaft". It's the crank belt sprocket that has the integral crankshaft key (tooth), with the small protrusion on it's front face that fits into the notch (alignment detent) on the back face of the balancer hub.

3- Infrequent damage to the the alignment detent ("nub/nib") has been reported here, usually traced to improper balancer positioning before bolt tightening or insufficient bolt tightening.
Luck is not at play here.


--
Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.