I've heard of this practice before. I would hesitate to call it a trend, so much as a byproduct of human nature that cannot be eradicated because it will spontaneously reappear. Humans harvest whatever bits of information they can find, including anecdotes and misinformation, and use them to jump to hasty conclusions. They dislike work and embrace bad theories that confirm their bias toward doing less work. They usually stop thinking much too soon to see where they are going wrong.

(he) kept his food bag inside his tent for the entire 6 month trip!

This kind of 'thinking' is what drives gamblers to believe in their own systems for beating the house.