Pull Up or Pull Down?

I, like many others, was told that when removing the thread from my sewing machine, be sure to snip the thread at the spool and then pull down through the needle. The story was that the tension discs are pretty finely tuned and you don't want to throw them out of wack.
 

Well...for this post I tried to find information validating that process. And you know what? I couldn't find any. I did find a couple places where folks said that if you pulled the thread up (i.e., by the spool) then you could potentially get some lint lodged in the tension discs.

 
But the one universal point I did find is at the very least, be sure your presser foot is up so that the tension discs are released. (Besides...who wants a tense sewing machine?!)