The OP posted and they appear to have been correct, while your "for all we know" turned out to be almost exactly backwards.
People match stories against their own experience. Any half-decent sysadmin probably has a story or two like this one. So yes, we do have something with which to assess the credibility of the story.
It would appear that you do not share that experience, though.
WHAT?! You're making a guess based on what? THERE WERE NO DETAILS. It's impossible for that to be an educated guess.