I've seen it a couple of times too. What I see way, way, way more often than that is people preemptively explaining that the ceramaic rods that come with the sharpmaker are super slow for reprofiling, and that you probably don't want to use it that way.
What I haven't seen is anyone complaining that the sharpmaker made their back hurt, or their arms or their shoulders sore, or that they can't hold the knife straight. And that would be pretty silly when you can simply use the sharpmaker while you're sitting down.
If you think someone can't consistently hold a knife vertically, then how are you going to expect them to hold the same angle on a bench stone?
The whole point of the sharpmaker is that it's easy to hold a knife straight up and down, which allows you to get a consistent angle with very little effort and no skill at all. If someone can't do that to the point where it becomes an issue over time as you were claiming, then how are you seriously going to recommend that they switch to using bench stones? I don't get it.
And it's okay, maybe I'm in the wrong here. I don't have to get it. I just don't want someone else coming away with the wrong idea. Sometimes we get bad information in our heads early on and it becomes difficult to unlearn that information later down the road. That's what bothers me.
You're not supposed to use it that way. Light pressure, let the stone or the diamonds do the work for you. I know that you know this. Spyderco tells people this as well.
Regarding the issue of sore hands, wrists, neck & back... That's part of the path I went down when I was learning, and while sitting down. Even just focusing on holding the angle vertical with only one hand is physically challenging for anyone trying to do heavier repair or reprofiling over the span of an hour or more. That's when the aches & fatigue will set in. Add some age-related wear & tear on the body, and those issues will be compounded.
As for how to hold the angle on a bench stone - already covered that with the suggestion to use a guide compatible with a bench stone (DMT Aligner clamp, among others). And other freehand techniques for maintaining the angle can be used more easily on a benchstone, like using your thumb or finger as an angle guide on the spine of the blade, skimming lightly across the stone with each sharpening pass. It works well. And a finger or two of the other hand placed just behind the edge bevel at the point of contact on stone will be an easy way to focus some grinding pressure and feel for flush contact. With fingers both behind the edge and at the spine, angle control becomes even more stable.
And the limitation of light pressure (as directed) is a big part of why the process will be so much slower, trying to do a big profiling job on SM alone, even with the diamond/cbn rods. A lubricated diamond plate of benchstone size can be used with somewhat heavier pressure AND better angle stability, significantly heavier than can be used with the SM due to its stability issues. And if one is just hogging off metal, then something like a SiC benchstone can be used at much heavier grinding pressure, with no worries about damaging the stone. A SiC stone will still work in doing such jobs on high-wear steels, if you're just thinning out the grind. Then, the light pressure tactic on a diamond hone for the refining steps will go much quicker after the grind geometry is already set.
All of the things mentioned above are what I've personally learned and done, having gone through the same steep learning curve with V-crock style sharpeners like the SM - I have a collection of maybe 6 or more of these types, all with the same limitations of small abrasive working surface and stability issues related to pressure applied, which limits the speed of the work. When one finally jumps fully into the process and tries some of the better alternatives, the lessons learned will hit like an epiphany - like figuring out a reprofile can be done in 30 minutes, instead of 2 hours or longer. It's impossible to know how good some things can work until one actually tries them. That's what I'm trying to encourage in posts like these.
