I think Start ya B*&^%$d is certainly appropriate for diesel engines, in that - properly used - it will allow the engine to fire up much quicker thereby easing the burden of the starter motor, especially in cold weather, and do no damage in the process.
I don't use SYB on the old petrol engines - Deadline is quite right in that so long as the carb has fuel in it the accelerator pump will give you an adequate blast of combustibles into the engine. But the problem comes when the electrics are working but there's nothing to set fire to :red:
Gordon's trick is really neat in that as he says it gives a source of fuel for the engine to run long enough to pump fuel up.
SYB would get an engine running where the electrics are a bit dodgy so cannot spark well enough when cold but once running and warm give enough to keep it running.
I've had trouble with lift pump valves in repair kits in the past - wouldn't hold fuel up - so went from 6 valve to 2 valve pumps which pretty much got around that problem. But now under heavy load I've been experiencing trouble with fuel starvation. Certainly an electric pump would cure that, maybe the pump is not working quite 100% but I guess there was a reason for going from 2 valve to 6 valve pumps.
Anyway - back to slow cranking. The norm, it seems - anything faster is probably just excessive maintenance or a new starter :-D