The first time I sat down to clean my bike (after over 20 years of non-riding) I went to Sheldon't site to see how he recommended doing it. I got this page from doing a search: http://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

I actually believed it, and thought "No way am I going to do this. Sheldon Brown is a lunatic"

If we all try to be a tad more patient, a bit more knowledgeable, a little more generous, Maybe we might fill a thousandth of the void Sheldon Brown left behind.