I think all the mods owe dfosterf an applause point for such an apt description of the moderatorial climate on this site. Thank you, sir.
For the record, I, like dfoster, also like rumors and speculation, and I wasn't attempting to discourage their propagation here. (Hence the reason I suggested letting the rumors stand on their own feet.) That being said, I will
always maintain a professional skepticism (if you will) about rumors in the absence of corroboratory evidence. Call it a by-product of my education; a single source is never acceptable in my literary or scientific papers. When such evidence has emerged, however, I'll be happy to embrace the rumor.
It probably also stems from my deepset resistance to being a bandwagon jumper. Dfoster might call that tomfool hardheadedness. 😉