As much as I'm disappointed by the result, I'm loathe to give conspiracy theories any weight. Cookie's quite right: the internet's the ideal medium for casting doubt on anything. (I have a friend who's sure that 9/11 was an inside job committed by the CIA and Mossad, because of murky stuff on YouTube. I believe he likely voted No, coincidentally…)
Something fishy did happen at the count in Dundee. Not one but two evacuations of the counting floor by a fire alarm! Plenty of scope for stealing away ballot papers there. But just as easily explained by some idiot pranking the place from the inside.
I don't like manual counts of ballots. I attended one in 2003 — as a rather ironic observer, as an old friend (not the guy above) had a spare guest pass from the Scottish Socialists, who I've still never voted for! — and the counting process is just as messy and error prone as you'd expect. The counters are watched continuously, by politicians from all sides, even in the days before ubiquitous video, and their work is checked. But there's always wiggle room in the margins. Wiggle room as in a few votes here or there. Like Florida in 2000. Not Scotland in 2014. I'm quite certain my side lost by 10%.
Speaking of which, here's
Matt Gemmell (a local developer / writer who usually stays out of politics) describing exactly the thought process behind many No votes.
You can find all the relevant arguments both for and against independence elsewhere on the web, on TV, and in newspapers; I won’t attempt to rehash them. I’ll just say that I look upon patriotic fervour and romantic notions of the past with disdain. I think they’re disturbingly emotional, and that most important decisions shouldn’t be made emotionally.
I voted No.
And yet:
I don’t mind admitting that I feel like we’ve missed an opportunity.
There’s an old piece of political rhetoric that says there are votes based on fear, and there are votes based on hope. I succumbed to the former.
Fear won. I'm sure London learned, and will be all the more ruthless going forth. 45% voting to kiss them goodbye is beyond forgivable.