Discipline isn't the deciding factor; IMO, it's the example you set. After a while, kids get used to the ''spankings''...my cousins were beat with everything imaginable when we were kids, and I don't mean a ''swat''...I mean, bloody, blistered asses. Period. And you know...none of them are ''pillars of the community''...LOL.
So I guess you take it on a case by case basis. I, personally, don't ''beat'' my kids, but a spanking can and will happen; the difference is I use an open hand, on the ass, period. I don't use a stick, or a hanger, or any other foreign object. But I TALK to my kids, first...they need to know right from wrong, and the consequences to their actions.