Tony, Reproducing or creating "The life" in an LP is often serendipitous, to my way of thinking. Thus if I like the sound from the LP better without the clamp vs with, or without a peripheral ring vs with, I don't go to pieces emotionally, fretting over what is "wrong" with my system. It is entirely possible that doing without a clamp or ring does introduce euphonic distortion; I don't give a shit. Life is short. Plus, I think we all kid ourselves about the degree to which the results of little tweaks actually are predictable.
I know of three examples of commercial products that in fact minimize all contact between LP and platter: the old Transcriptor's turntables, the well known Ringmat, and the new Resomat (I forget who makes that). I don't necessarily endorse that extreme opposite from using a weight or ring, but some do. Those who like them, love them.
No question, LP slipping on a mat is not a good thing. I do worry about that, which is one thing I have in mind when I do use the SOTA clamp, un-clamped.
I think record weights and peripheral rings are like religion or your favorite baseball team; everyone has a right to his or her opinion, and converting people to your own belief system is often futile.