Originally Posted by
cyccommute
"Less tension" should not be read as compression. It should be read as "less tension" only. If you can see that the spokes are only under less tension and realize that there is nothing to actually compress the spokes in real life (not a mathematical fiction), then you are left with the only possible conclusion of the hub hanging from the spokes.
Except in that case there would be changes in the tension of every spoke in the wheel, not just the ones directly between the hub and the earth. If you have carefully measured data that shows changes in spokes other than those the wheel is standing on, you have an easy win.