bevel
can handle it:
inset
can also do it
insertEdge
… does not like star points / extraordinary vertices, and behaves different then bevel.
see this topic
with
useful fix
I think it s really important to have those similar commands (insertEdge, inset, bevel) follow the same logic.
the fix is to make insertEdge not fail at starpoints - so the solution is to select an edgeloop as @laborda suggests in the video.
for the ring-Selection it gets tricky - my guess: if insertEdge with loop selection works at starpoints - nobody will need the option ring-selection + absolut distance + select reference side.
i hesitate to suggest a gesture that allows from one side or the other inserting at an Edge-Ring. By gesture i mean a mouse movement tracking similar like the arc command creats +/- angles or reaches a point CCW or CW.
maybe _offsetSrf is a better reference ? it accepts negative input and has a flip option.
…but i am not a fan of overloading commands with to many options just to enable quite rare workflows that can (or should, with above fix) be accomplished with other ways… and we have so many commands / workflows where the correct selection with the correct command need to be combined. - i would prefer to skip this possibility ( ring selection + absolute + flip direction + defining what a negative number should do).
my 2 cents - cheers -tom