You assume he's not, so looks like neither party is going to be right unless they get it from the horse's mouth.

Would that Cindy had visited us, even if only just to say hi, and thank us for our very-positive support.

But, that's life. 

What would be the point of locking the thread?  Why not just let the current discussion taper off?  Maybe my opinion doesn't matter for much, but I don't see anything that really requires action from a moderator or administrator.

I can see where you could get that impression, but why ask for a thread lock when it would be easier to walk away from the discussion and let it cool down instead?  Don't take me wrong, this is all still in the realm of my personal opinion.  From where I sit, it doesn't look like things are that incredibly heated; to be sure, most of us have probably seen much worse.  Generally, I find that fires tend to die down when they aren't stoked.

Anyway, back to topic:  I hate to see that yet another favorite might be disappearing.  Granted, she's only talked about leaving competition thus far.  Speaking from a selfish point of view, it'll be a real loss if she vanishes from the scene.  Time will tell, I suppose.