I started watching F1 in the 90s and back then the most commonly applied penalty was the 10 second stop and go penalty. It was seen as quite a harsh penalty since a driver would lose not only the 10 seconds stationary time but the time required to enter/exit the pitlane and the set speed limit. Total time lost ended up being in the region of 30 seconds. Penalty had to be served within 3 laps of being notified by the stewards. Additionally the stewards were required to investigate incidents and hand out penalties within 30 minutes of the incident occurring. It meant that track position would be lost almost immediately and it was very difficult for teams to be tactical about these penalties.
In 2002, the drive through penalty was introduced in Malaysia and it became the most common penalty used. Total time lost ended being closer to 20 seconds, though it was track dependent. The same applies as above, though at some stage they got rid of the requirement to hand out penalties within 30 minutes of the incident (i imagine after Silverstone 98).
Then in 2014 the time penalties were introduced. The first occasion i remember it being used was Spa 2014 when Alonso's mechanics were still working on the car after the 2 minute warning before the start of the race. Penalty is applied at the pit stop or added to the race time if no more pit stops occur. Teams can be a bit more tactical with these through building up gaps to negate the effect of the penalty. Track position is not necessarily lost. It can be controversial when the penalty is issued for a pass off track.
The reason i created this poll is because i see a few disgruntled fans after what happened in Singapore last race and Silverstone last year. Perhaps there is a feeling that we need to go back to harsher penalties. Let's see what the poll says!