Bryan, the simple and unavoidable truth is that Andy had never even considered observing the Hand Limit on your turn until a fan pointed it out on this list. This was after 3.1 came out.
Zach, you said, "My group plays exactly like it says on the card: If it's your turn, you may discard down to the hand limit." Please point out to me where it says you may discard on your turn. As far as I can see, the ability to discard is plainly restricted to non-turn players. It never specifically says that the turn player can discard anything.