Do load rules "persist" for a repository workspace ?

I'm chasing an issue reported by RTC user in that the claim is inbound accepted changes do not update the sandbox.  A reload does seem to update the local workspace.  I don't know if load rules were ever used.  Let's say they were.  Would the presence of load rules possibly block inbound updates ?

For what it's worth, the user's repository workspace isn't a "near" match to the flow target ( i.e. a few change sets, not dozens)