See, that's part of the whole deal, I don't think that eliminating a variable from an alt history story (no matter how less or more alt history it is since people are arguing about that now) says that said variable wasn't important. That's the part that's being read into that I don't think is supported. If I wanted to eliminate the Cathars from my 13th century French conspiracy/religion/slash-fic alt history piece, I wouldn't be saying that they're unimportant, they're just a piece of the setting that I've 'turned off'. That can go further if you push it, I could actually make the case that they aren't important, but until I read The 13th Child and find that, I just don't see it here.