So as near as I can tell, yeast is more durable than I've been led to believe. But sometimes it's incredibly fragile. Ugh...
Myth #1a: NEVER make a starter for dry yeast or rehydrate it prior to pitching
Myth #1b: ALWAYS make a starter for dry yeast and rehydrate it to help it rebound from the process used to prepare it for shipping/ packaging
Forgive me for having a list of a single item but this has been bugging me so I'll get to the point.
If you make good beer using the yeast that you have regardless of your prep, that's a win. You did it right.
I'm all for the simple solution most likely being the correct one (dry pitching) however giving your yeast every advantage possible (rehydrating and starter creation) seems like the better idea. At least intellectually.
I've found this contradiction in every brewing book I've read up to this point. It would appear to be close to a 50/50 split. It might not matter.
If what you do works, do it again. If it doesn't, switch to the other method.