Blackburn FAKE Records? (Speedtyping)

[Creamhoven]

Hello fellow keyboard warriors,

 

it is true, I have done it. I have mispelled a word here and there, much to the amusement of some. Would they still be laughing if they knew how fast I type?

...I don't think so.

 

Mr Karl Jobst has brought to my attention that fakes, lies and deception in speedrunning might not be a new phenomenon at all. In fact it might be several decades old believe it or not.

Now, you might think that such fakes especially if more than one person are involved are conspiratoral type of thinking and yes, this is true. But when you think of the Santa Claus conspiracy theory (how triggered I was when I first learned about it), you can easily see that some of them are true or have at the very least sound reasoning.

 

Okay enough theoretical speaking, what is this all about? Well, a lady named Barbara Blackburn once had the Guiness World Record in speedtyping. Every Amico buff who is serious about their Tommy Tallarico facts knows that such records can be put into question, because some of them are just not true. Well her record was removed after a while and her legacy is now in question.

Let's look very closely at the numbers. According to numeral sources she could type 212 word a minute. Although this has been surpassed by many she is often named as the fastest typist ever. Karl Jobst theorizes that this is a complete fabrication. Initially it was claimed in the Guiness book that she typed at 170 words a minute later it was 150 over a 50 minute timespan (37,500 strokes). From 1986 onwards (after a David Letterman appreance in 1985) her record was removed.

No entry in these books, however, ever mentioned the often stated 212 words (as you can see in the Karl Jobst video). Amoung those many statements some claim that this number was mentioned in the 50th anniversary edition from 2005, even though there is no entry like that in this edition (she would have done this record at the age of 85). Karl Jobst goes more documents, but one is a LA times article that in 1985 claims that she has stated a record of 196. Apperantly the 212 claim originates from a letter Blackburn wrote that a program that analyses the speed of typing one scentence showed here a result of 212, but not over a longer stretch of time.

Now with that in mind, did Blackburn fake her records? I don't think so. The numbers make sense to me and only because she did not perform on the Letterman apearance, does not mean that Blackburns records are fake. Karl Jobst is making a sound case, but I think he has a too conspiratoral mindset. If you take a step backwards and see the whole picture you can see how it makes sense, that is at least my impression.

 

But this is why I am writing today, to learn how you feel about the Blackburn case or if you feel that in speedrunning there is a tendency to question records too much? Just because some one achieves a great record, does not mean it is fake, and it is important to make a solid case. I've heard of other speedrunners like Billy Mitchell, but I haven't looked into that yet. Feel free to share your thoughts on this case or other cases that come to mind.

 

Thanks for your attention.

(This post was typed with one hand in under 5 seconds. *mousedrop*)

Edited June 27, 2023 by Creamhoven