The Sign, the Whole Sign, and Nothing But the Sign... Really?

According to the Co-Star Astrology App (and many other Internet reports): “The Whole Sign house system is the oldest form of house division, and remained the preferred method of determining houses for about a thousand years after its inception.” Is this really so? How did a ‘system’ which had no name or recognition in any well-known historical accounts of the various methods of house division, spread from zero to hero in only 30 years?
Deb Houlding's 2022 AA conference presentation countering the widely promoted argument that using zodiac signs for astrological houses was the original, oldest, best and preferred method of house division for over 1000 years!
This presentation became the subject of a widely publicised response by Chris Brennan, who (believing he owns the rights to other people's works as well as the field of Hellenistic astrology) featured it in a rebuttal that went on and on (7-hours) arguing against points that were never actually made whilst failing to engage with its actual argument. Note that this presentation is not suggesting that a sign-for-house approach was never taken in practice; nor does it suggest it cannot be used to good effect. Quite obviously, in situations where the time of an event is not precisely known, the exact calculation of house cusps becomes pointless. The purpose of this presentation is to draw attention to the very clear and widespread definitions of quadrant division that exist in even our most ancient sources, and to refute the (modern) suggestion that these were irrelevant to the matter of house meaning, and not expected to be used as a preferred method of house division.
Some relevant links:
1) Attention blew up over this issue shortly after Martin Gansten published an academic paper, which made similar points in far more eloquent terms. His paper - Platikos and moirikos: Ancient Horoscopic Practice in the Light of Vettius Valens’ Anthologies - can be found here:
brill.com/view...
This is highly recommended for anyone following the historical argument
2) In response to CB's criticisms, many ridiculous challenges were made about the points made in this presentation. All known points are addressed by Deb in the Skyscript forum thread on this link:
www.skyscript....
3) Rob Hand - being one of the original leading proponents for the use of WSH, and the one who claimed that originally, the signs were expected to mark the houses, is featured in this presentation, since it considers his argument and the circumstances under which it was made and promoted. He has done a follow-up interview with Chris Brennan, talking about his reaction to this which can be found here:
• Robert Hand Responds t...
4) A little light-relief:
The 'Star-Wars' explained in 96 seconds:
• Astrology Wars