This is all extremely frustrating, how a lot of this has transpired. It has literally made me, not only, very disillusioned with regards to logic, impartiality, and the paramount importance of integrity in the community, but also overall has made me very sick to my stomach.
First of all, for all of the people who are taking the "I trust Billy" approach, just know that trust nor confidence in a person cannot and will not be leveraged against the mountain of evidence on the table. If you trust Billy, fine, but just know you are being irrational and denying all logic and reasoning to the best explanation. Most of you need to be acquainted with what is known as "Ad Hoc" justification. All of the explanations in defense of Billy have fallen into one of two camps:
1) Pure blind faith and irrationality ie. I trust billy therefore its likely he didn't cheat, even in the face of the mountain of evidence.
OR
2) The explanations are purely ad hoc, meaning they are just attempts to conform around the evidence already given. Had these justifications preceded these allegations then I would not be charging them with being ad hoc. But the whole Duane Richards excuse WAS NEVER EVEN HEARD OF PRIOR TO THESE ALLEGATIONS. You mean to tell me, you guys have known for years Duane Richards tampered with some tapes or minimally had access to them, never thought to tell anyone, and just completely accepted the tapes as Gospel until the were disputed? Don't insult my intelligence. In addition, are you guys saying that the tape playing at funspot, that was personally handed to delores, was tampered with by Duane too?
Now, lets talk a minute about abductive reasoning. This is simply reasoning to the best explanation as to the origin or explanation of some data or observance. You guys need to realize, no matter how freakin' trustworthy you allege that Billy is, and even considering this totally bogus, ad hoc explanation about Duane Richards, that even with all of this considered, Billy still have a very strong presumption of evidence against him. Up until the point that some legitimate, non-anecdotal evidence arises such as these tapes, or some rigorous analysis as to how an Arcade could even possibly render in this way (as of now, there is not a single shred of evidence such a thing is even possible. Pure conjecture and speculation at this point) then Billy is going to be RIGHTLY assumed to be guilty of cheating.
Now, lets take a look at some of the evidence that increases the chance of all Duane nonsense, being just that, NONSENSE.
1) The tapes in question, Billy was standing behind when he presented both the new records on the television monitors. These are confirmed to be mame games, and allegedly are the same tapes with Duane's taint on them, yet they were presented with no scrutiny or apology, or even mentioned to the community at large with regards to Duane, until after the allegations.
2) There is a very obvious fake board swap video being performed where a DKjr PCB is being presented as a DK PCB, during the actual record breaking weekend and the same venue. Then to top it all off, it seems as though its very likely, the board was taken off screen momentarily, and the exact same board was put back in.
3) From high level analysis of the DK score, the playstyle is not commensurate with that level of a score. The sheer fact he managed not to die much earlier, while implementing this playstyle over 117 screens, is marginal evidence that it was likely done as a non-contiguous run.
Given, the fact Billy was standing behind these tapes, allegedly knowing full well Duane had his hands of them, that they are confirmed mame, that we have evidence of motive to deceive with regards to the boardswap, and the playstyle itself makes it unlikely, but not impossible for him to have reached that score and level with that particular play style.
Given all of these facts, my verdict is that it is very probable Billy really did cheat, and until legitimate contravening evidence is put on the table, this analysis should stand to all unbiased, rational people.
Lastly, Richie seemed to be offering as evidence that Billy was likely to tell him the truth, because if Billy did cheat, Richie would not speak about and apparently help cover it up, given the nature of their friendship. I take this as an interpretation of the whole, "I'd help him bury the body comment". If this is in fact the correct interpretation of what Richie was getting at then his admission that Billy didn't cheat because he told Richie straight up, is self refuted by Richies own admission above.
Now, if this was not the correct, interpretation, and the whole "bury the body" comment was merely an expression to express a supreme level of confidence in Billy and nothing more then I retract the above analysis as to what Richie meant when he said that. But it seemed as if he was attempting to offer that as evidence that Billy was likely to tell him the truth, and Billy said he didnt cheat.
PS: I have a lot of respect for Richie Knucklez and Billy Mitchell with regards to all they have done to promote and support the DK and CAG community at large. But this doesn't mean I agree with everything they say, and I shouldnt be faulted or criticized with going where I think an honest analysis of the evidence leads.
-SHANE from North Carolina
