Spinning reels. Close with handle or hand?

[briansnat]

I've been fishing with spinning reels since the early 70's. As a kid my dad instructed me not to "force" the bail closed with my hand, but to turn the reel to close it. I've been doing this since.

I just saw a Youtube video from a bass pro about the mistakes that even veteran anglers make. One of them was cranking the handle to close the bail. In the comments there were a few people who agreed and said it was bad for the reel to crank the handle to close the bail.

Some of my spinning reels are approaching 30 years old and have shown no ill effects from using the handle to close the bail.

So I was just wondering, how many here close the bail with their hand vs. using the handle to close the bail?