I'm not quite sure why I am poking my nose in here, but I thought I would note that cash-covered put selling (aka 'naked'), combined with covered call writing in the cases where there is an exercise against a position, can be quite successful. The degree of suggest depends primarily on stocking picking prowess. But it certainly is a quite viable strategy.
Selling naked Puts in and of itself carries no more downside risk than owning the same quantity of stock outright. It is the abuse of leverage that causes of wipe-out, some quite spectacular, see LTCM.