sala, my comment about the drinking thing was just to make a point, or an analogy, also. I figure we are probably on the same page more or less on chain maintenance.

Dont forget, we are answering the question of a newer rider who puts oil on and ends up with a gloopy, hard to clean mess and is contemplating getting a bike shop to clean his drivetrain partway through a trip, and or replace the chain, cassette etc.

Robow, I have friends bikes that end up with a 5mm thick old thick lube combined with dirt sludge all over their entire drivetrain that has certainly made a very effective sanding paste, and then they put more chain oil on top of this mess--off course this example is an extreme one, but the oopey goopey messes that I have helped clean on some of these bikes can't be helping the wear of stuff. Does keep rust off the chain though from rain--this is one of the advantages of thick stuff like Phils Tenac or Chain-L, if you use it and keep the excess down to a reasonable amount, I imagine it works pretty good in wet crappy conditions, just cuz they are so thick.
The issue here is that so many riders just dont care or think of wiping down stuff with a rag once in a while, they just ignore it, and then it becomes such a burden to clean properly, so then it tends to get ignored even longer.

the number of times I have used flathead screwdrivers to pry off thick, gooey or hardened/gooey gunk off pully wheels and chainrings and cassettes of bikes has shown me that a lot of people just arent interested in caring for their bike--or just dont get the common sense concept of using a rag on excess when needed.