I'm going by the construction drawing which is 100% unambiguous and not a bunch of words. Reddit has nothing to do with it, that's just one place where this Boeing sourced drawing can be found.
The NTSB comment is just about the fitting guides not about the stops, and yes, they stop the door from moving upwards. There are no bolts through the stops and they do not mesh into any part of the door as far as I am aware, nor does the drawing show anything that they can slot into, it's just a bit of pressure. If it isn't the bolts providing the tension then it would have to be some other mechanism but none is apparent on the drawing. I'm sure the bolts will also stop the door from moving vertically, just as much as they stop if from moving laterally, the key bit is that if they do not engage that the door can slide up and outward and into the airstream on the side of the plane, which is a formidable force. After that it is just a matter of time before the door will escape.
The big question for me is whether all of the bolts had to come loose before the door escaped or whether it was enough for one or two of the four that were loose to come out to do start a feedback loop (door goes off a bit, more air, more vibration and so on). I also wonder if they'll be able to recover the bolts from inside the airframe or whether they've been lost.
> I'll accept your retraction anytime. :)
This is the sort of dumb comment that you may want to take elsewhere.
It is 100% possible that my reading of that construction drawing is wrong, but you haven't shown where or how it is wrong, just that the NTSB person said something that is either incompatible with the drawing or that there is a discrepancy between my understanding of the drawing and reality. If you want me to progress in my understanding you'll have to explain, not demand because nothing the NTSB officer said helps with that understanding other than to contradict, which is a good indication that I'm wrong but not how I am wrong. All she talks about is 'matching circles' but those run in a different direction than against pressure so I really don't see how that matches the drawing. It's possible the stops hook over the corresponding parts in the plug but that's not readily apparent from the drawing at all.