Re: VMs: vms sentences

["PK#01" <pklist01@xxxxxxxxx>]

> 3.   Though there is a lot of detailed data (and some information) on
> various websites, there is no single, incrementally updated
> repository for concrete results, as is the case with many mailing
> lists that maintain a FAQ document.

I both agree and disagree. After 3 years (or more?) on the VMS-trail I still
discover great information in the many websites. We might make an FAQ or a
link collection, but most of the basic answers can be found here:
http://www.voynich.nu/ - One of the best parts is this:
http://www.voynich.nu/origin.html - That's an FAQ all by itself and with
some answers by Panofsky.

Then, it takes time to realize how *weird* the VMS really is. In the last
weeks I've browsed through 1000+ 14th century manuscript examples (I think
I've covered 1 meter of bookshelf in the KB now) , and the VMS doesn't
really look like any of them. So it is still anyone's guess and I doubt a
"consensus" is possible. We simply don't understand the manuscript good
enough (sad after almost 100 years).

Personally - at the moment - I believe the VMS doesn't contain any cleartext
message because:
1) someone would have found it already
2) there is no encryption method (that I know of) in the period 1400 - 1600
that could produce a text like the VMS
3) there is no non-encryption-related "idea" in the mindset of the 1400 -
1600 that could produce a text like the VMS (artificial languages, world
models)

4) it is - at the same time - too neat and too uncomprehensible
The cleartext manuscripts that I've seen until now are either:
- not-neat, complex AND THEREFORE incomprehensible (legal documents,
administration, notes, bad handwriting, lots of abbreviations)
- neat AND THEREFORE easily comprehensible (poetry, prayer, history).
As yet I've seen NO neat document that I couldn't read.

I admit that 1000+ document is just a tiny sample. I have many meters to go
yet (fortunately, because it is great fun!).

Now that I've written this you'll see a barrage of conflicting (and mostly
reasonable) opinions. Bring it on! (3x) So it would be really hard to reach
consensus.

And why someone would write a meaningless document? Beats me. Hoax, speaking
in tongues, Enochian, schizophrenia, who knows ...

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