Sandal Evangelist, I like it
I totally go along with your personal preferences but would take issue with a couple of other points.
Falling off being overplayed, really? maybe for you but this is one area where the facts are undeniable. Falls occur that would never occur were it not for foot/pedal attachment. Some of these falls will generate injuries and some of these injuries will be serious. You don't have to look far on the web to find examples of broken bones etc. You can also find fatalities where a 'clipless' moment could have been the root cause. Kind of hard to prove as the cyclist is dead but impossible to rule out. I'm especially thinking of clipless moments where a cyclist could topple into a line of moving traffic. You can also add damage to bike and add-ons as well to the possible negatives. I actually think the falling off bit is under, not over, played and there's a very lax attitude towards it from clipless converts. This smacks of bravado in defense of a personal choice rather than a reflection of the reality.
Then there's 'by and large it's better for most' - lots of assumptions in there yet searching on the web doesn't turn up much evidence of this. This is strange in its own right as you'd certainly expect such evidence to be very prominent. But I'll diligently read anything you find and link to. Don't forget that 'most', as a cycling group, exludes pros, top amateurs and wannabes, most riders are utlity, social or a mix of the two. The Rivbikes article specifically exludes road racing from the analysis. During all of my riding I haven't yet had foot pedal slippage and, barring my brief venture into clipless, no problems with hotfoot, knees etc, due to the foot pedal interface.
I think clipless is an excellent system and very appropriate for some riders in some situations. For the rest it's personal preference with any gains immeasurable in comparison to the gains to be had from riding more and losing weight.