This is a thread that could go on forever, and each view is valid. I am a study in clipless and platforms (as I'm sure many other are also). When I started commuting in the mid 1970s I rode platforms, and it was no big deal. In about 1982 or 1982 I started using clips and straps (because my nerdy roadie friends talked me into it), which worked great for me also. In 1997 I made the big jump to SPDs and rode with them until August of 2011. That's when I made full circle and began to ride platforms again, and the year since then has been a wonderful riding year. Each method has its own application and purpose. I don't think either way is right or wrong, just different and equally valid application. For me right now, as an official city/urban/flatbar/commuting/sidewalk bomber, platforms work. For me in the recent past, highway/long desert rides/metric centuries/club rides/long stretches with no stopping clipless was better. It's like arguing the difference between road tyres and mountain bike tyres.