You're talking to someone who got spanked for merely making mistakes as well as for downright misbehaviour, and from parents (my mother in particular; my father never believed in the strap, his hand was quite enough) who didn't know the difference between the two and probably would have gone nuclear if you'd tried to tell them the difference.
I never used anything other than my hand with my son, and I only ever had to fan his behind a few times. (And I never punished him merely for making a mistake.)
I agree with not whacking a kid around for making mistakes, I simply disagree that using a strap or a switch in certain cases is child abuse.
My children got a whack for two reasons, for safety rminders and for exceeding the limits set for them. It seemed to work fine.