Is tonearm bias a compromise, maybe a myth?

Like Groucho said about Doris Day, "I knew her before she was a virgin."

What Fleib and Audiofeil said. But I'd rather do this topic again than Madonna.

"As soon as I think I'm out, they pull me back in..." (Michael Corleone)
Doug, I think the genesis of the skating force is a bit more complex than simply that of a force pulling the stylus toward the center of the LP (or the spindle). Skating force is due to friction of the stylus in the groove, I think we all agree. The actual direction of the main force vector generated by friction is more toward the left rear of the turntable (exact direction depends upon headshell offset angle, and other factors like length of tonearm and position of the stylus on the LP surface). The reason we "see" it as a centripetal-ish force or a force pulling the tonearm inward in its arc, is because that is the only motion permitted by the tonearm pivot, due to tonearm stiffness. Similarly, AS force creates a vector mostly toward the outer and rear, because of headshell offset (and above). The combination of skating and AS vectors, if AS is theoretically perfectly chosen to equal skating force, would be to pull the stylus and cantilever back into the cartridge body. (Maybe that could cause the dampening to which you refer.) I think that the reason we observe bent cantilevers is that in most cases there is too much or too little AS. Anyway, that's my take on the subject. You and others have made me an AS minimalist but not a nihilist.

Tony, When the stylus is tracking an actual LP, the friction that causes skating has everything to do with the grooves.