I think it's a little unfair to group everyone who's confused about the Automattic/WordPress relationship as conspiracy theorists. There is a huge overlap in employees/committers. The CEO of Automattic is leading an upcoming release cycle, and through Audrey Capital he personally employs non-Automattic folks who work on WordPress...not to mention owning this site and employing you, Jeff (something you have to scroll to the bottom of the About page to figure out).

I love WP and I think y'all do great work, but the delineations are pretty obscured.