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I've been dealing with a knee complaint for the last couple of years that eventually limited rides to either 100% shuttles or no more than about two hours of pedalling a week. It appears to be calming down so a lot more riding is back on the cards for this year, I hope!

it's a cone on top, then same diameter all the way down. But I can't remember if it will run into something else if it's too long... best to just run it the intended way- ie correct body/needle for the stroke.

Yes there’s a different needle and corresponding damper body assembly for every size stroke. It’s a lot. I know the coil shock cannot tolerate any messing with the stroke length- as there can be metal to metal contact. I think you’re right and the air shock is same. At least I wouldn’t gamble on it. 5mm is a lot when talking about internal clearances on these things.

I remember an identical discussion to this one two years ago, and @Dave_Camp either you or someone else who's smart said that the needle would definitely bottom out on something and break if you cut the travel reducing spacer to increase stroke length. At the time, this very smart person in the forums (I think it was you, Dave) was trying to impress on us how densely packed the inside of these shocks are to get everything to fit. Sounded like there was zero room to play with and you needed to replace the body with the correct length needle...