lil brown bat

This is worse than people asking advice about skis, I swear to god.

Sorry if that sounds exasperated -- it is, a bit, but I'm exasperated at the situation, not you. The problem is that you're stressing about a purchase decision instead of doing the one thing that will really get you the information you need. You need to ride, then buy. Really. If you do it any other way, you're rolling the dice. This is a great forum for getting opinions from people who are trying to do some of the same things that you're trying to do, but the best data is your own body's feedback. I have my opinion about how often most people will want to use the "drop" position on drop bars (seldom), and on the remaining positions that a set of drop bars will give you (doable, but takes some tweaking and aren't nearly as "off the shelf" comfortable as straight bars), but who knows? You could find that you love the drop position and never want to ride any other way -- now, mind you, I've never in my life known a single cyclist for whom that was true, but you could be the first.

The bottom line, I think, is that you can research a bike purchase all you want, but if riding isn't part of your research, you have to accept the likelihood that you're not going to get your Perfect Bike, and the possibility that you could get something very far from it. Your choice, ya know? A lot of people buy all kinds of gear this way, they find some internet reviews and a great mailorder price, and sometimes they make out like bandits. But if you make your purchase decision based on something other than riding experience, you are somewhat shooting in the dark. If it's really going to worry you that you might not get what you want out of it, then reconsider how you're doing your buying. I buy from a local shop where I can ride the bike beforehand and get it fitted. If, OTOH, that big internet sale is something you can't turn down, then make the purchase and accept what you get.