From: siliconshaman	Date: July 28th, 2016 11:22 am (UTC)		(Link)

Oh we knew, as you say there's tons of evidence and it's kind of a no-brainer... what science didn't know for sure was that the tides had measurable effect upon that particular fault.

See, not all fault lines are the same, some are unaffected by the tides because they're not aliened with the tides vector or the force required to make them slip is less than that applied.

What's interesting [in a OMG!] sort of way is that it means the San Andreas fault line is good deal more fragile than previously thought. Which is both good and bad... bad in that it means it requires less of a kick to get it to slip, thus more earthquakes. But good in that it lowers the chances of a Big One ever happening, and lowers how big the big one could be.