Wouldn't it be possible to contact at least 1 of them, and settle the question? Story says author tried... Try again, ask around.
Story & comments read a lot like speculation. Why settle for that when original source(s) still exist?
Something similar happened a decade ago with the page for the Unix command `cron` — it contained a made-up backronym (‘command run on …’) that had once appeared in print somewhere, and the guardians of Wikipedia zealously rejected correction (it's from ‘chrono‐’) from the original author, Brian Kernighan.
And if they do that, they're now becoming journalists or researchers.
(I know you likely know this, but just clarifying a bit for others to what I think the logic is)
---The words defined in this dictionary are the property of the Tech
Model Railroad Club of M. I. T. and all rights to use and define
these words are strictly reserved.---
Another of David Sawyer's sound effects, which I reinterpreted as a colorful variant of "scorch."
might be a more informative link to the specific change, btw.
For this, and because of tab completions (perhaps tab completions post-date zork, but nonetheless) I find the work:zork story compelling. I have used the first letter is replaced by "z" trick many times (z-tab, done!), and that pre-dated any contemplation of the zork mystery.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100112110305/https://nickm.com...