It's interesting to hear about all these experiences with skating chains. I'd like to add one more. I had a Truvativ Rouleur triple crankset, from about 2007. It was rated as 9/10-speed compatible. The chainrings were pretty rubbish and I wanted to customize the gearing, so I replaced the rings with some from TA Specialites, also rated as 9/10 speed. This resulted in FREQUENT skating between the middle and outer rings. I filed off the outside of the mounting tabs for the large ring to bring it a bit closer, maybe about 0.3mm, and now the skating is extremely rare, but has happened a few times. I did the filing by hand, trying to get it even using some calipers, but I'm not sure it is not that even; however, it has worked decently for more than a year now so I'm not too worried.