The author is a FReeper and has been a spokesperson for FR. Do you honestly think he wouldn’t get his facts correct?
Not at all. This was the first I have heard of this story, and I harbor some degree of caution with nearly everything these days (it is easy to get burned, even here on FR). It is not a necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion, and I doubt Kristinn would be offended.
I know Kristinn personally reasonably well, and in my initial introduction to FR with the DC Chapter back in 2004, he kindly invited me to stay at his house when I drove down from New England, though I ended up staying at another Freeper’s house. Over the next decade I made the pilgrimage a dozen or two times, I went to more than a few events with him, and spent a good deal of time conversing with him, so I have a great deal of respect for him. (My three Freeper heroes were Dr. Raoul, Kristinn, and the Trooprally’s...:) No reflection on Kristinn at all, and I don’t think he would have taken issue with my query.