Of course it's speculation - everything about SEO is speculation. There are only a few people in this world who can say anything about it with real certainty, and as you pointed out, it's in their best interest to spread as much disinformation as truth. This is just based on some of the recent problems people who were using SAPE had. No one knows for sure if they targeted the network, the linking patterns, or something else completely.
I wouldn't call it harsh, just an honest question from someone interested in your service. Honestly, I was expecting an answer somewhere along the lines of "diversifying the links means that any penalty will be at least partially offset by the strong links from the 34+ other networks" or something like that.
I guess I'm in the game a little more long-term, with sites that can't just be moved to another domain if this one gets hit, and am normally more in the market for white/gray hat solutions. This one just piqued my interest.
