Thanks
They are a good shop, so I do actually believe them
I seem to recall they mentioned 1/2 links at one point.
I always wait until the chain falls off a couple of times (with EBB at maximum stretch point) before changing the chain.
Maybe it is just the combination of those factors you listed that makes link removal suboptimal for my particular Thorne ...
It's not like it costs the earth to replace the chain so not a big issue - was just curious.