Does any one use the significator procedure?
I hoped to be able to start a poll, but possibly this facility is only available for real members.
I think the poll would be exceedingly small, as the Thoth forum tends to be small, and the number of people who regularly carry out the OOTK even smaller.
I don't personally discount my readings due to my significator not being where I figured when I set out. I personally respect the Golden Dawn immensely, and find the OOTK to be... Divine for lack of a better term. However, I find that using the significator as a validity signal is slightly irresponsible. In my opinion, the placement of the significator is immensely important to the correct interpretation of the working, regardless of the expected nature of the spread. I've found that occasionally, the nature of the question is NOT the same as the nature of the problem, and finding the significator in an odd placement does not necessarily discount the operation. It DOES however force me to ask why the significator is not in place, which leads to interesting results in itself.
I really, really, like your answer, as it shows great thought. When changing a settled point, it is always a good idea to form some sort of rationale behind it, rather than say, as many do, "I don't need this, I have intuition." As much as it may seem all arbitrary, all GD practices have some reason behind them.
That being said, I don't use the significator as a sign of validity for much the same reason, and do use it in much the same way as Satyatarot. Sometimes the lack of validity teaches much, and rather than throw in the towel, I prefer to investigate further and check
why it isn't valid, or where it is supposed to be, etc.