As someone who managed a department that looked after stage/film/tv electrical rigging and distribution/cable/breaker-box rental equipment for five years or so

As someone who managed a department that looked after stage/film/tv electrical rigging and distribution/cable/breaker-box rental equipment for five years or so I will be happy to agree with you in that the modern technique seems to not be elegant tying with cord, but "gaffer the shit out of it and yer good, bud". (Had to clean a lot of that crap up!) Then again, those were the cases largely in temporary rigging. The gaffer tape will dry out after a while and fail. Very rarely sold equipment to permanent installs.