Emptying inground pool?

[Steve]

I got an email today from someone talking about how they were getting into cleaning pools as well. They are working on a vinyl linered in ground pool. To clean it up, they are attempting to drain it. I had heard this was a no-no in the past and I did some searching and found it shouldn't be done.

Have you any experience in this? Wouldn't it be better to just shock the pool than drain it?