I was waiting for someone to bring this up, because this is probably the exact reasoning the devs used. It is incorrect imo. There is certainly a difference in effort expended and reward gained for clear space in a working vault vs. permanently emptying a storage vault.
Given the uncertainty surrounding future plans for cats, it is much easier and safer to just keep quiet and do nothing. Hopefully I will be surprised and old timers will generously return to donate their time and redistribute their vast hordes.
Final point: what does it matter if there are vast hordes when they are in limbo anyway? Devs just should have balanced production to current consumption and not made any assumptions about the future behavior of historical horders.
Given the uncertainty surrounding future plans for cats, it is much easier and safer to just keep quiet and do nothing. Hopefully I will be surprised and old timers will generously return to donate their time and redistribute their vast hordes.
Final point: what does it matter if there are vast hordes when they are in limbo anyway? Devs just should have balanced production to current consumption and not made any assumptions about the future behavior of historical horders.