Feh, I did my first ten thousand miles on a bike with brifters. I like
them okay.

Ah Ha. A virtual newbie virgin to bicycling. I rode my first few
thousand road miles on a bike with stem shifters. Then a few thousand
miles with downtube shifters. This all happened before Ergo/STI was
invented. Then I rode many thousands of miles with bar end shifters
after Ergo/STI were invented. Still have the bar end shifters on the
touring bike because they work well and have some advantages, as
mentioned by many before. Then I finally acquired a bike with Ergo.
All subsequent new bikes have Ergo.