Brb gonna duct tape my hand to my steering wheel

...or 170K miles!

When I FIRST got the car I found myself playing around with the reverse lockout a lot.
After I caught myself ONE TIME shifitng into reverse while still moving forward I STOPPED DOING THAT!
I realized what I was doing before I let the clutch out but it was close.

Will resting your hand on the shifter void your warranty?

The shifter is actually well behind the gearbox itself, and connects to the shift forks by means of linkage rods. You could stand on the shifter and it would not apply any load to the tranny internals.

Early automotive gearboxes were "top loaders, with the shifter mounted on a plate on top of the tranny, and connected to the shifter forks directly.

Every modern gearbox that I know of is actually "controlled' by a series of linkages connected to a "remote mounted" shifter, like our cars.

Here is a pic of the Aisin gearbox as used in the twins. Note the rear-mounted shifter.

Won't start popping out of gear until well after that point.

Driving like an asshat with a stone cold engine won't void the warranty either.

Good reference pic, but I think the paranoia comes from the hand pressing down on the shifter while it is in gear (angled), which would hypothetically create friction between the fork/sleeve interface, no?

Anyway, I can see how it's not the perfect way to operate this piece of machinery, but I'm also not really worried that "resting" my almost weightless hand (I have an armrest that I actually lean most of my weight on) is doing any damage. There's plenty of feedback from the shifter to let you know when you're actually causing friction.

...and if you look closely at the shifter area of my pic, you will note that there are actually mechanical stops that limit the forward and reverse travel of the shifter. Even if you did pull on the shifter while traveling, the force would be applied to the mechanical stop, not the shifter forks.

I suspect all linkage-operated shifters have stops. I know both of my MR2s did.

Buying an A/T was great. Saved me money on an armrest too :D

If just puttering around in traffic I find it quite comfortable to rest my palm on the shifter. It all comes down to how far forward or back you sit. I sit 2 or three clicks (on the seat rails) from the back and can't seem to find any other comfortable place for my arm. Even if I were to have an arm rest installed. Two hands on the wheel, unless in attack mode, is just not comfortable in general cruising.

The only thing I have noticed is how cold the shifter is. The other front engine cars I have had from the 70s and 80s heat up the shifter shaft and knob pretty well.

This assumes that you are not putting any side thrust on the shifter, which is what actually causes the wear. Due to the position of the shifter relative to your arm/shoulder you almost cannot avoid putting a thrust load on it.

I am pretty sure if you tugged on the shift knob while it is in gear like we are talking about it would do a lot more damage than just applying force to this mechanical stop. You mean to tell me unless we press the clutch you can't get the car out of gear even if we stood on it ?

two ways to solve this while resting your hand/arm...buy an automatic or buy the freak'n arm rest

Look at the pic! There is no way moving the shifter from side-to-side transmits any force or motion to the linkage that actually moves the shifter forks. The linkage rods ONLY move forward and backward, never from side-to-side.