With the amount of side projects that Maynard had going on with A Perfect Circle... I don't think they've played any cruel jokes on the fans... or have been trying to weed out any unfaithful fans... I think they've just been concentrating their efforts in different places. During the hiatus I got my Tool fix by listening and getting into Chevelle and now just about 9 months ago I got into a band called 10 Years... who is probably the most Tool sounding band out there right now... They're a bad ass band... their independant release (before they got signed) is a great album and so is their first album "The Autumn Effect".