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Red dot and type of scope
I have a correct image 9x50 finder as well as the telrad I like having both as they have their own advantages depending on the situation. For a ultra-portable rig I have the ability to attach a small red-dot finder to my 9x50 finder because a scope or two of mine only has one finder bracket so that gets me a red-dot and the finder (but no telrad).
Something that is very nice about a telrad (over red dot alone) is a telrad you can place relative to other brighter stars a few degrees away because the outer circle is a 2 deg radius, mid-circle is 1 deg radius. So I get a mental picture of naked eye visible stars around the telrad pattern centered on my target that most star chart programs can put on the screen OR SkyAtlas 2000 has on a sheet of plastic. Sometimes you gotta hop and that is a different topic but you would be surprised how many times no hop is required if you can see a lot of stars (dark skies).
The Telrad on a Dob is one thing but I think your discussion of contortions is maybe with a 'view out the back' sort of scope like SCT or refractor? Yes this is a problem and is the reason the diagonal was invented for refractors and SCTs. For nights with little or no dew I had in the past used a little make-up mirror attached to mechanics wire angled 45 degrees and stuck to the telrad so I could look towards my scope body but still see out the telrad heads up display (sorry this is hard to describe) but basically, use a mirror instead of contortions. I don't use that anymore as few contortions are required with a dob and telrad way up high near the mouth of the scope generally.
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