I think they are actually pretty fun on the right bike, along with well adjusted suicide levers. IMO, The biggest problem is their reputation, the bicycling equivalent of leisure suits, they're seen as a tasteless relic of the 70's sold on mid/lower level bikes to hopelessly lumpen bourgeois masses who didn't know any better.

Some of the old stem shifters are pretty cool Suntour ratcheting power shifters, nicely made items.