Ok, I don't usually bust into a thread like gangbusters with sweeping pronouncements of right/wrong, but...
You're all wrong. [Sorta.]
In 2000 when I still had my '91 Tama Rockstar kit, I joined a band replacing another drummer who had the same model kit. [It was all amicable, no drama- I hung out some w/the guy I replaced.] He wasn't really "into" the nuts & bolts of drum gear like most of us are. So, when I had my audition/1st practice with the guys, I played his gear 'cause the space was small and there was no room for mine 'til he picked his up, and- you guessed it- Pins top & bottom on the toms. I thought they were gonna sound boxy and choked. They didn't. Granted, they didn't have the best tone, IMO. They were kinda, uhhh, hollow sounding [ironic since drums are hollow, har har har], not very warm- I guess you could say "cold"- but had plenty of sustain. I was pleasantly surprised by that, even though they had a tone that I didn't dig. They sounded not unlike some tones I've heard on newer country & modern rock stuff- eq'd and compressed to death, y'know, since those rings of glue were cutting out overtones on both ends of each drum- but these were right in front of me, not coming through a stereo system.
In the newest Modern Drummer [Stanton Moore cover], there's a photo of The Bangles' Debbi Peterson playing live with large slabs of duct tape plastered on the bottom heads. I imagine the tone she and/or her techs are after would be gained with Pins as resos.
I agree wholeheartedly that used batters of any sort should never be rotated over to the reso side. The whole point of reso heads is to contribute to tone and aid sustain, and beaten heads aren't gonna do either very well.