Ralph, I agree with your comments 200% (or I would if >100% were theoretically possible), except that like Millercarbon my understanding has been that XLR connectors make the ground connection prior to the making the signal connections, upon insertion, and break the ground connection after breaking the signal connections, upon removal.
And upon close examination of some XLR cables I have, which are terminated with Neutrik connectors, it does appear that on the female end the metal contact within pin 1 extends slightly closer to the front surface of the connector than the contacts within the signal pins. And likewise for female (input) connectors I looked at on the rear panel of a component. And although the pins on the male end all appear to be the same length as far as I can tell, it seems to me that the make & break sequences I described would occur regardless of which end of the cable is inserted or removed, as a result of the configuration of the female connectors.
Best regards,
-- Al