I'm coming around a little. However, if there was a forced LOP area, it would need to be designated as such by the TD. So, it presumably would always have a safe lie all around it. Because TDs are perfect and can foresee everything.
(A very little, I guess.)
On the other hand, I don't see anything precious about LOP itself. If I threw a disc over a spot, why should I not get that spot for cases when the disc keeps on going to another spot where I can't play from?
Other types of relief besides LOP make more sense in other contexts. Like lateral relief from a stream running down the fairway. However, last point on the playing surface is the only one that can work in all situations.
LOP casual relief can result in unrelievable cases the TD couldn't have foreseen. A puddle by a fence, for example.
If I were to start fresh, I would use the last point on the playing surface as the mark for all situations where the player may move the lie. In some areas there would be a penalty. Others not. From some areas the player could choose to move the lie, others not.
Steve, I am going to give you an example from real life where "forced" or "required" relief, free of penalty comes into play. Since you guys's conversation is suddenly confusing me, I am going to let you guys decide which position I am on.
Over the years the Veteran's Park Open (the one in Arlington, TX, where I do the rules sheets & caddy books) has many places where the city has added some benches for park walkers, and each one has a specific "mini-memorial" to different military vets. We obviously do not want players in those areas, and a three of them are on one of the signature holes -- but not in a place where we'd add additional OB. We've found it easier to just designate one "free relief drop zone" for each area, if you end up in the mini-memorial or int he paved area with the benches, etc. The DZ's might be better, worse, indifferent, changing, etc the direction your disc was headed, but to us it is just simpler -- and allows us to continue to honor the meaning of the park.
There you go.