Forgive me for resurrecting a LONG dead horse.
But I think I can “win” :] this discussion in one sentence.
Absence of evidence is ALWAYS evidence of absence, and it is sometimes PROOF of absence.
When people say “Absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence,” I suspect what they really mean is “absence of evidence is not PROOF of absence.” Which is still not necessarily true, as in the elephant example.
