Originally Posted by
livedarklions
I think we should just give people credit for knowing when they are or aren't comfortable as we're never getting better data than their own statements..
Sure, I don't disagree with that. To me, though, the crux of it is this -
"I'm comfortable in X."
Awesome! No problems whatsoever.
"I'm more comfortable in X than I am in Y."
This is more thorny because it implies both subjective superiority of one over the other and adequate familiarity with both X and Y. If the adequate familiarity is there - sweet. But, if follow-up comments are diametrically opposed to the general consensus, I think that it raises question marks about their level of familiarity and I think that it's fair to ask qualifying questions about their level of familiarity. That's essentially where we were with my head-scratching emoji after your "pooling under the poly" comment, because it was SO contrary to my experience and, I think, that of the vast majority of my peers.
Honestly, about a dozen years ago, I wasn't too far off from your position - I didn't like synthetic jerseys and I avoided them; the jerseys that I had were fine merino wool. Synthetics have made big strides since then, IMO. While I still like merino in certain conditions, good synthetics now comprise the majority of my cycling attire. If one doesn't have recent experience with good quality synthetics, I think any judgement calls on their shortcomings are suspect, at best. It's like someone saying that Android/iOS does this and that poorly when they haven't used it since 2.0.