I wouldn't try to convince you of that. The thing is that in all of my touring which includes a couple cross country tours and a number of other long tours my chain has never looked like that with only one exception and I did clean it then, but immediately stopped using the lube that caused it (White Lightning). I have since used Boeshield T-9 with just apply and wipe method and never seen anything like that again.

I also do make two other exceptions. When my MTB chain is muddy from off road riding I rinse it with plain water and as little pressure as possible. The other exception was a couple times when the chain got covered with sand in that case either plain water at low pressure or as a last resort a quick spray and wipe with WD40 before relubing and wiping again.

I have had good luck with T=9, but do not think there is anything magic about it. Other lubes like Prolink work fine as well.