It can be somewhat confusing. Bob makes a pretty good case, but its hard to believe that many church leaders are that wrong on what should be a simple matter to clear up. In the context of this current squabble has the GC officially stated that the 1881 approval never happened? It would seem that they of all people should be able to provide definitive clarification to this.
The GC put out a statement yesterday that addresses this question:
http://news.adventist.org/archive/commentary/2012/08/09/questions-answers-regarding-current-issues-of-unity-facing-the-church. I think the statement covers the major points pretty good.
The statement flat out states that the 1881 WO resolution was never adopted.
So why have so many gotten it wrong, over and over again? I think it is wishful thinking coupled with not reading the original documents by most, and not reading the original documents carefully by others. A case in point: One week ago a pro-WO administrator sent a questioner an explanation of why the resolution really was voted, stating that it was based on the ST report. But that same administrator sent with that explanation a copy of the RH report, not the ST report. Why? I doubt he had access to the ST report, and was just relying on what someone else had said.
Something within that communication makes me fairly certain that Monte Sahlin, the author of the "new studies" that started this thread, also didn't have a copy of the ST report, which report he relied on to make his case that the WO resolution had been adopted. In other words, I think his entire blog post was based on what someone else told him, not about what he actually read for himself. And if that is really the case, then his post could hardly be called "new studies," because whatever study was put into it was less than adequate and less than what would be expected.
So this whole experience should teach us once again: Don't take anyone's word for anything. Read it for yourself. After all, that's what the Bereans did.
But Bert Haloviak, who is pro-WO, has maintained in writing that the 1881 WO resolution was probably never voted. I think he works or has worked in the GC archives.