OK, but it's still a player believing something that simply isn't true, pointing out that players can be wrong about things, even things that they have a lot of experience with.
I am just arguing against the idea that if the players believe it, then it must be true or that it must have a lot of validity. If there were no data supporting either opinion, then absolutely, you go with the players who are playing the game.
When the data supports very strongly one opinion over the other, you go with the data.