Gary,
You said it best in the first paragraph:
"The primary reason charting has become so popular is it eliminates the laborious task of trying to understand the various fundamentals of a security."
And the reason some of these folks have gained such a follow is that the people that are their followers don't even understand the market period. They don't understand the fundamentals, the T/A, or the market itself. That's why they see these various folks and jump on board.
That's also, why I beleive we have such volatile swings in the market. People just don't know what the heck they are doing. And every little twist and turn in the market, they flilp out and sell.
And because of not having a clue what they are doing, they end up losing their money...
Fleecing is a good term.
FM
