Going back to a question asked earlier in this thread:

> At what point does customization stop being an investment into your productivity, and start stealing productivity?

I don't think it was ever only about productivity. "Scripts aliasing, prettifiers, curses wrappers, helpers of all sorts, fancier interfaces over old tools, etc. ... made to make other tools more usable or prettier" are examples of a more general phenomenon that includes ricing and distro-hopping. I.e., they satisfy aesthetic needs as much or more than they do practical ones.