I think what you're calling a conspiracy theory is what the critics of this approach would call pandering.
It's not as though people are suggesting that behind the scenes, unseen people are pulling unseen strings in a concerted effort to accomplish a nefarious goal. That is a conspiracy.
What the critics of DF are suggesting is that a website with a perceived audience bias, is writing articles to please that audience or at the very least straddle the fence.
I don't honestly care much if DF wants to stay in middle ground of the console wars, in fact, it's hard to blame them. I have sort of found it irritating when performance gaps seemed to be glossed over this gen; when last gen they weren't, but if I were in their shoes I might find it awkward too, to be in a postition to alienate some of their core fanbase.
That said, my real contention is the use of the term "conspiracy theory" willy nilly, whenever someone wants to discredit someone's opinion or steer a discussion to a place of their choosing. It just doesn't fit here.