An old colleague (who had a PhD in astrophysics so you'd think he'd know better) cleaned his brake discs with wd40 for the same reason. Unsurprisingly he crashed. Funnily enough he crashed outside an undertakers. When he came to in the road and opened his eyes there was said undertaker in full uniform (hat and all) standing over him. Doubt he'll clean his disc with oil again....
FWIW I've just been out to check oil level with it off the centre stand. In my case it did appear to have a higher oil level when off the centre stand. Obviously the level is very sensitive to how vertical you hold the bike. So much so it took a while to be satisfied what I was reading in the sight glass.
