I agree with the answers here, but I still think there really should be a 'mode' you switch into. I use these techniques but it is really easy to miss a Ctrl when adjusting and then you have that sinking feeling a few minutes later when you discover everything has moved, all your clips have fragmented and you don't know how far to go back.

I often do multi-camera events (dance shows, talent contests) and just want to sync the clips up (often painful) and know they are NOT going to move around on the timeline once I've done it. Is there a way to do this? An overall 'ripple mode' switch or something?