I hate absolutes and etched in stone procedures as they may not fit all cases always.
If the aircraft is controllable and is holding together.....one does have time to think things through before launching off down that preset notion.
If I am over really ugly terrain, or at night, perhaps over water that could chill a miser's heart....and...operative word is "and" I have control of the aircraft to the degree I can aviate, navigate, and perhaps communicate.....why not go for a better option than extant at the time and place of the tail rotor failing.
Being of the Vietnam War Era US Army helicopter group....perhaps I do not see Tail Rotor failures in the same light as some of you. We had a lot of exposure to those and learned much from the guys that were successful in coping with them. That knowledge has been passed along and when combined with a hand throttle control of the engines makes for a way of coping with some failures. With the advent of larger aircraft and the shift to "levers" and other means of controlling engines....the concept does not transfer straight across.
There is a world of difference between a Loss of Tail Rotor and Components than mere control problems. Techniques for the two are much different as a result.
For a Loss of Tail Rotor drive, loss of Tail Rotor and/or components....I think the first reaction is to lower the collective...which usually is never a bad thing to do in a helicopter that has decided to take a walk on the wild side. Recognizing the problem should be fairly straight forward if half your feet are stuck out as far as it will go and there is no response to that input. If moving the pedals gets no response....then one can surmise it isn't working or isn't there. If the nose of the aircraft got heavy at the same time....then it probably is due to the Tail Rotor and some associated bits have departed for other places.
Helicopters roll along with a tuck when large amounts of slide slip are caused by the out of trim situation....that is generally the main danger in forward flight at about cruise speeds. Minimizing the side slip will assist in controlling that. Knowing how your aircraft responds to collective movement ahead of time helps in determining what to do. I see minimum power to maintain height as being the optimum power setting and then adjust airspeed to find the minimum slide slip angle.
Depending upon the collective setting.....flight may be possible....if not then it is time for an autorotation.
If the aircraft is spinning or about to.... away from the power pedal....(trying to make this ambidextrous for the wrong way turning machines)...reducing collective is the only immediate answer perhaps followed by engine(s) shutdown...and it should probably all the way to the bottom and fairly quicktime. The height of the aircraft above the ground will play a role in deciding just how the collective/throttle(s) should be reduced or shut off.
My rule is simple.... In general....too much anti-torque...equals an up day.
Too little anti-torque....means a down day.
You can find ways to reduce Tail Rotor output.....but you cannot create any that isn't there.
If you read up on the Bell 412 in the Gulf of Mexico that had a Loss of Tail Rotor at night....you will quickly realize it was a catastophic event with an immediate loss of control of the aircraft. I will try to find the report and some other information on that and share it. The pilots did a great job getting the aircraft down. If my memory serves me right....the Captain had survived being shot down by a SAM-7 Heat Seeking missile in Vietnam. The Cobra he was flying lost the entire tail boom and spun like a top all the way down but both pilots survived.
All this is just one man's opinion.