Technically its not. Short stroking can be a problem especially for new users who don't know where the engaged area is.
The big issue with it is that if the turret is between position and you use force to turn it, stuff isn't lined up correctly, and that can force the twisted area straight up into the index ratchet. That's the quick way to ruin the ratchet.
So short stroking won't necessarily cause this, but NOT short stroking will prevent this. There is really no reason to short stroke the press in 99% of cases. The few times I will short stroke -when finishing loaded rounds too long to clear before the turret turns- I still finish the rest of the stroke after removal.
Short stroking progressives and sometime single stages can be extremely dangerous so its a bad habit to have in general, especially considering there is no real benefit to doing it.
When teaching new people, its a whole lot simpler to say "always all the way up, and all the way down" than it is to give the few times where you don't have to.
Finally, I'll add that short stroking the lee's can slow you down as well. While it may make sense sometimes to skip an unneeded station, your still changing up the motions. That can slow things down in the long run.
Once the turret is placed into the press, manually turn the index rod to fit in to the turret, and manually turn the turret into its first position. Do this with the ram raised as far as it can be and the index feature will last a very long time and give you almost no problems.
If the turret is having issues over or undershooting, put a wrench on the index rod where its sticking, hold the wrench and turn the turret by hand until its in the correct position. This may take a few minor adjustments, but will get the die position to reliably be where it is. This is not clearly in the Lee instructions, and is probably responsible for half the problems these presses have.
After completing the above motions the last index problem I have had with mine was about 30,000 round in the past. These are very good presses with very poor directions.
