If we're starting with the assumption that Tesla is lying about shadow mode, which is the entire premise of the claim, it would not be surprising for a Tesla employee to disagree. Obviously this is one of those you-can't-win scenarios, so I fully understand the Tesla employee could be acting in good faith, but that alone is no more evidence than the original hacker's claim that it doesn't exist considering the context.
I consider it a very interesting thread where someone went looking for proof of shadow mode and couldn't find it. Maybe his conclusion is a little extreme, and I guess people thought I was trying to derail a Tesla thread with FUD when really I was trying to share an interesting piece and someone else's better-informed opinion (which is why I worded it the way I did). I sort of consider it similar to saying "expert A believes that..." but I guess I communicated that poorly.
For what it's worth, I'm glad people are actually looking at the source and critiquing it.