Tom, I'm pretty much in your corner when it comes to how I ford streams. I have spent a lot of my time in country where many of the streams are glacial melt water. They can be, depending on conditions, deep and fast, slow, clear as a bell or pretty murky. The footing under all this is uncertain and shifting at best: mud, silt, sand, loose cobbles, boulders etc.

Early in my mountaineering days I tried crossing barefoot or with socks. I wanted to keep my boots dry. I did this a few times, hurt my feet and fell and then decided to start crossing in whatever shoes or boots I was wearing, sans socks. Sure my boots got wet but they would have gotten wet anyway as soon as I reached the snow or glacier above.

The important thing is to protect your feet and to have good traction and footing; bare feet (or socks) do not always provide these things. Everything else is a comfort issue; safety overrides comfort every time for me.