Maybe I'm going soft, but while you are correct, I've also seen quite a few genuine "people of importance" shouted down as impostors by smug internet nerds.
I remember a few years ago, when Octavarium was about due for release, and some fella on DT.net insisted that he'd heard it and shared a few tidbits.
He was addressed very rudely, and eventually he left, saying something along the lines of "you'll be laughing on the other side of your faces when you listen to the title track and hear James LaBrie screaming 'TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM'."
Seem to recall it was met with general eyerolling. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," kinda thing.
But that stuff is more plausible than someone claiming to be JP's brother-in-law, especially if it was around the same time reviewers were getting their copies of the album.
True! But people do post online.
One thing I remember is... er, there's a website, could be reddit or something? I don't really use those kinda sites, but one of them does something along the lines of "Ask a something." So it might be "ask a surgeon" and then a member who's a surgeon would answer a bunch of medical questions, or "ask a 70-year-old" and a seventy-year-old would answer all the members' questions about Werthers' Originals and retirement, etc. etc. "Ask a member of the Doctor Who Production Team" was one of them, and some guy started dropping loads of cool hints about the next series.
He was essentially burnt as a witch. He was also vindicated by history.
JP's brother-in-law is a little more of a long shot, but I keep seeing that kind of thing over and over again, so I've kinda started to err on the side of caution, lately. I'd say there's a good chance he's making stuff up. Very good chance. But it's not impossible. I don't think it's entirely implausible, either.
I think... that what I'm saying is that I don't necessarily think it's true - I'm not ready to fall for it just yet - but I do think it
could be true. I don't really have any reason to doubt him, just yet. And if he's a liar, he seems like a clever one.
Someone photoshop this quote onto a serene nature image!
If this becomes a "thing" I'm going to have to ask to start taking royalties.
...Or copyrighting all the awful cod bollocks I constantly spout.