starting fluid, very detrimental?

I've been using it for 45 years and have never blown anything up. I grew up on a farm and dad would buy the stuff by the case. Hell-when I was 17, I bought a 67 Coronet that had a blown motor, I found a used 383 and put a 4 barrel on it, The AFB's accelerator pump was shot and I couldn't afford to get the carb rebuilt. I used starting fluid everyday, most times more than once a day for about a year. Then I found someone to rebuild the carb. It gets me-all of these You Tuber rescue videos Grind and grind on their finds, dribbling a tiny bit of gas or spritzing a little brake cleaner or carb cleaner over the top of the carb, I always post to use a good shot of starting fluid. Their **** would fire a lot faster!
I did buy a nice 73 New Yorker back in the day that had a blown up 440 that had already been replaced by a 383. The 383 wasn't completely hooked up. The owner told me he thought it had a hole in a piston. I figured I would try to start it before pulling the engine. So I finished hooking everything up. I gave it a very healthy shot of starting fluid and lit her off. It started but also exploded, it did have a hole in the piston and the ether explosion expanded the valve covers the oil pan and the timing cover and the valley pan, blowing all of the gaskets out. That's my story and opinion.