voltage starve pot lugs

[timd]

I've seen the voltage stave in many varieties - from lug wires to pot sizes (2k-5K). What is the most reliable for:

Pot size.

Lug orientation.

I've seen starves that have 2 wires (one on an outside lug and one the the middle wiper) and ones that have 3. Beavis has diagrams:

http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/DBS/

where all 3 lugs are wired. What gives?

[John Lyons]

Two wires is a variable resistor which is basically limiting current which will also limit voltage (Typical LED setup...)
Three wires is a voltage divider. Neither matter how they are wired...well, the voltage divider takes the output off the wiper. 
Voltage divider is more stable, especially with a cap from wiper to ground as in a typcial voltage reference with ICs etc.

[ashcat_lt]

"Everything useful is a voltage divider."

The variable resistor acts as the "top half" of a voltage divider with the rest of the circuit.  The true potentiometer (3-lug) arrangement also happens to add series resistance.

The assertion in the link that grounding the wiper would "overload the power supply" is false. 

[timd]

Thanks for the great info.