RTM, I wanted to say at the outset that I may be misinterpreting your arguments, so I wanted to take a moment to clarify my understanding by walking through some of the points your raise.
It strikes me as incongruous to argue that "there is absolutely zero proof...that shows the existence of 885k on the TG scoreboard/database" and then cite the very evidence that was uncovered to confirm the score's existence - Walter's announcement and Rick's post, which was based on his review of the scoreboard in January 2003.
https://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/109558-Anyone-get-a-Million-pts.on-Donkey-Kong-&-questions?p=557734#post557734
To highlight the latter point, JJT begins that thread by asking if Mitchell achieved a million point DK game. In response, Rick writes, "Not sure if Billy ever did that or not. If he did it wasn't official cuz viewing the TG records Steve Wiebe has the record at 885,900. I really thought Billy had scored in the 920k range though...but perhaps wasn't verifiable."
Further proof of the score's existence can be found in your thread announcing Steve's 947k achievement.
https://web.archive.org/web/20031203042530/http://www.twingalaxies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1253
In post #8, mandm785@juno writes "dumb question, but did Steve just do this? [the 947k score] The reason I ask is I looked at the score details, on the online scoreboard, and it says it was submitted on March 2, 02. Was this performance of over a year ago? Just made me curious when I saw this."
You remark in post #12 that due to a system bug with the original program, the dates can be a little screwy. However in actual fact this was the date that Steve's 885k score was confirmed in the database. If you google "Steve Wiebe" "885,900" you'll get a hit where there is a discussion about updating MAME related files. One individual uses the history.dat file associated with a DK distro - the information is clearly dated as it cites Steve Wiebe as the DK record holder with a score of 885,900 achieved on March 2, 2002.
You included a post from Walter ("Billy Mitchell scored 874,300 points at Twin Galaxies on November 7, 1982...") and indicate it makes no mention of Steve's 885k score as potential proof that the 885k score either didn't exist as an official or wasn't entered. The context of Walter's discussion concerns how Mitchell was portrayed in the King of Kong. Walter's argument is that - contrary to the opinion of the movie-going public, I guess - Mitchell was not obsessing over retaining the top DK score, and a pro-Billy TG administration was not running interference on his behalf. With this in mind, Walter's announcement of Steve's 885k score, which is accompanied by an announcement of Mitchell's forthcoming video tape submission of a higher score, would clearly undermine the core of his argument, and would provide a plausible rationale for its exclusion from his historical account.
I do think that the lack of fanfare or promotion around Wiebe's 885k score is noteworthy, but my conclusion is that the lack of promotion wasn't rooted in the score's absence from the leaderboard.
RTM REPLY - I'm not the best art multi-quoting so please bear with me...
Point (1) - "It strikes me as incongruous to argue that "there is absolutely zero proof...that shows the existence of 885k on the TG scoreboard/database" and then cite the very evidence that was uncovered to confirm the score's existence - Walter's announcement and Rick's post, which was based on his review of the scoreboard in January 2003. "
REPLY (1) - I should have been more clear in what I wrote...there was Walter's wall post blurb, and Rick Carter's forum response, but no proof of snapshot from the database itself showing the score as being entered.
When I wrote the article I checked the database and there was no earlier 885,900 score present at the time...not sure what happened to it but I also never saw it in the database in the first place. As for Walter's wall post, back in that era of TG one wall post came down to make room for another so there is no easy way to determine just how long it remained on the TG front page short of clicking subsequent archive.org pages one at a time until it disappears. No matter, I am maintaining that I did not see it...can't forget something I never saw as I would not have remembered it to begin with, and a new DK WR would have been well-remembered by me back then.
Issue (2) - Further proof of the score's existence can be found in your thread announcing Steve's 947k achievement.
https://web.archive.org/web/20031203042530/http://www.twingalaxies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1253REPLY (2) - thanks for locating the original TG forum post of the WR !! A Google search could not turn it up. But I did read the original article as well as the subsequent replies...where within the article or the 8 replies was mention of the 885,900 made ?
My article notes that was the first kill screen that I had witnessed, confirming I never saw the 885,900 performance, as well as mentioning that the WR had not changed hands much over the past few years, as well as only Billy being the dual-holder...technically Steve would have been but again, I never knew that at the time.
That post number 8...it does not specifically reference a score of 885,900 and no subsequent post confirms this. Not playing dumb here, but there is no way to be sure of just what that post is alluding to. It might very well have been an earlier score, I just do not know for sure. And again, not one of the key people...Walter, Billy or Wiebe himself, ever corrected me as to the article failing to mention an earlier score validated by TG.
A point I'd like to make is that in July of 2003, I did not see the score within the TG database under the arcade platform. I would not have checked MAME as there was no need to. Not sure what happened to it, but I'll end by saying I maintain no such score was present when I wrote the article.
I am not disputing accounts that show at one point it was there...I'm simply stating that while that score may have been originally present, I was completely unaware of it. Makes me wonder if the goal was to bury the score so as to generate more "pop" for what was yet to come. It's been too many years and the database has changed hands and iterations several times...I doubt we will ever know for sure.
I'll accept the fact that anecdotal evidence suggests the 885,900 existed...but it would have been nice for Walter, who gave a thumbs-up to my article, to inform me that I was missing the fact of the earlier performance. Or Wiebe himself, once the article posted. Bill never told me, that's for sure.
