That is only true for the models that came after 2008 when the change occured. This was done as a precaution because back then the new sockets seemed flimsy to me (which turned out to be true).
The lime sockets of the pre-08 old design that I own experienced the same amount of use as the other colors did.
The whole lime joint thing seems to be something that started as few independent random occurences, which then snowballed into a community-wide acceptance, without anyone actually looking into it.
Well, we would actually have to make a statistical analysis for that. But even then, most reported cases would be lime joints because of the “lime paradigm” influencing it, feeding into the snowball.
I agree, it should have, but again, no one looked into it. Confirmation bias is a powerful thing.
Yes, that is true! In fact I will update the topic with new pictures when I find some unused post-08 socket (I do not dare disassemble any of the sets), and also with actually broken pre-CCBS Hero Factory sockets. There are certain design choices which make them less durable.
For the lime plastic, ideally one should take a large unbiased sample of broken sockets (not just the reported ones) and look for a statistically significant difference in colors. Of course this would have been difficult back then and is impossible to do today.
However some things that would constitute good evidence in favor of the lime paradigm would be the following:
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an official record of LEGO changing the composition of lime colored plastic in 2007.
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an example of any pre-existing difference in plastic composition of lime colored parts or a proof of the lime dye physically weakening the plastic.
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any proof of that particular color being produced any differently then the same parts in other colors.
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an official statement by LEGO claiming the lime parts to be more prone to damage than other colors.
Until actual good evidence comes up I am not convinced by the lime paradigm.