On the pilots' forum there are very strong suspicions that Boeing have planted "experts" who have been steering the discussions away from Boeing malfeasance and towards pilot error and poor training. I suppose you have to ask yourself, with steering of the conversation like this, who would have an interest in doing it, and who might also have sufficient technical knowledge to appear genuine.

I too think it's probably not just end-game for the 737-max but also end-game for Boeing.

In the game of engineers vs accountants, the accountants won again.