That was indeed my interpretation of that half of the conversation. That they were claiming that the axle is suspended (tension increases with downforce) by the spokes above the midline of the circle, which is what Brandt vehemently contended was false.
You're looking at the macro "It's all in tension" (superposition of two states) and hinkley is looking at the "bottom is a compressive change" (dynamic portion of the load).
What I'm not clear of is if you think that the upper spokes change tension between the unloaded case and the plain gravity load case (force on hub down, ground on rim up at the bottom), or if you expect the top half spokes to increase and the bottom half to decrease in tension. I think this is what hinkley thinks you think.