Yes, right. They used it as a way of naming the thing they were seeing, not using it like someone familiar with it.
> What about the additional part about a shadowy cabal that you ignored?
I just rechecked the article. What shadowy cabal part?
> If I offer a reward for proof that aliens abducted Elvis, you don't consider that lending credence to a conspiracy theory?
I think a reward initially signals interest in the area, and then longer term acts as a disproof of the theory. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_... for a famous example of this effect.
> Why is Wikileaks in the business of "fact checking a conspiracy theory"? I thought they were about, you know, leaks.
Leaks of significance are of course worth more. Soliciting leaks is absolutely something they do (and should do).
> No it doesn't. It just requires that if someone else figures out the actual cause they deny it. Zero cost.
Well, except that denying hard evidence doesn't usually work (#include those who have been leak subjects). Also people all over the web are having conversations like this one, so the situation degenerating into a head-said/she-said situation would have a cost. Which as I pointed out before was an obvious outcome of their tweet.
Happy travels :)