fsonic, Ordinarily, I would totally agree with you. You are very correct to ask for scientific evidence to support any of the claims made regarding audio as a hobby, especially vinyl. There are so many erroneous but commonly held beliefs that persist just because of hearsay. BUT in this case, the weight of the circumstantial evidence in favor of using at least some anti-skate with a pivoted tonearm is SO overwhelming as to be convincing, at least good enough for me. Yes, the magnitude of AS required to fully compensate for the skating force at any moment in time on one LP vs another is not close to being a constant. That does not mean there is no benefit. Likewise, there probably is a negative consequence of using too much AS. Such is life.
But are you also protesting the crude nature of most AS devices on most tonearms? You ought to see the AS device on my Kenwood L07J tonearm, the arm that is an integral part of the Kenwood L07D TT, wouldn’t work on any other turntable but was given its own model name by Kenwood. It uses a nylon monofilament, but there is no dangling weight. The force is applied from the left side of the arm pillar (between pivot and spindle) but wraps around to the rear of the bearing pillar so as to pull the bearing housing forward (toward the front of the TT), therefore applying a force that rotates the pivot counter-clockwise, so the arm is pulled away from the spindle. The AS force is supplied by a weight that rides on a strut; the monofilament wraps around the bottom of the strut, riding on pulleys. The magnitude of the AS is adjusted by moving the weight with respect to the pivot point of the strut on which it rides. Thus no dangling weight.