We were kicking this question around when I left the list in 2013.  

Personally I thought and still think that CCD was a mostly a hoax or just a delusion, with just enough 'evidence' to give it credence, and enough money in keeping it alive for everyone, politicians, media, researchers, and beekeepers--and their bankers.  It was great fiction.  Everyone loved it and nobody wanted to kill it.  People are suckers for a story, and this story saved the bee labs. 

Was 'CCD' really something new or just another varroa collapse or insect cycle with a story that paid and paid?  

I recall talking to Tony in Sacramento and Dave around the same time.  A month or two CCD was discovered and became big news.  It never really died but the story now lies mostly dormant, having been neither prover or disproved and having served its purposes. 

BTW, I highly recommend visiting the BEE-L archives web page at https://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L&X=O353FE3D751235D9A21 and sorting  and searching back through old posts by topic, author, or various other criteria. 

There, you can read many of these same posts in written in slightly different words, by the same or slightly different people, five, ten, or fifteen  years ago.   Sorts and searches are quite flexible and the results most educational. 

https://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A2=1309&L=BEE-L&D=0&X=O3A5C96B363C7521DFE&

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html