To degrease or not to degrease

So three local bike mechanics in Berlin have now made a point to me and my partner of advising against degreasing our SS drivetrains before lubrication, advising instead that we just "rub them clean" with a rag. This is definitely not what I've picked up about chain maintenance over years of cycling in London, and I'd be really curious to know what forum users here think. To degrease or not to degrease??

Only de-grease occasionally as it's difficult to fully lubricate all of the links properly post de-grease and will likely wear your chain out quicker.

I don't know about SS, but after a few weeks of FG in crappy weather I find if I try to degrease my chain and cog before re-lubricating I end up with a horrible crunchy-feeling drivetrain where I've worked a load of grit onto the chain contact surfaces and into the rollers. I'll completely degrease and clean if I'm changing the chain, but most of the time I just add lube and wipe the worse of the crud off while avoiding the cog and chainring teeth.

Spray a load of GT85, or isopropyl alocohol if caked up, on an old tea towel and wipe all the junk off. lube and remove excess.

If you fully degrease, its harder to get the chain internally greased so well. No need to full degrease unless its proper gritty.

Buy a new chain

Wax.

It entirely depends how thoroughly you're going to relube it. If you're going to properly relube it with something that will penetrate all the links then a full degrease is your best option.
If you're only going to drip normal wet lube onto the chain then just wipe the crap off before lubing (degreaser on an old tshirt can help).

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/133486/

See also: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/339074/

Definitely need Merge @Velocio

I'll close this, so that the keywords point people to the others.