Sam G,
At the end of post #11, you pose the question: "Maybe I've missed it, but has any advocate of the cipher theory ever so much as asked the question "how was this text intended to be used?", let alone actually answered it?"
I am not an advocate of cipher theory. I cannot demonstrate that the VMs text is actually legible, though I accept the analytical evidence that there is probably something going on. And if there is sense to be found, then, IMO, it will be communicated in a fairly specific and non-equivocal manner, something far more restricted than the sort of 'pick a word' translations.
Apparently your perspective on the determination of value is the *value* to the person or persons who would have created the proposed cipher text. Obviously the creator of a cipher text already has access to the plain text *data*. There is no need to go through with all these fiddly bits. Every puzzle maker knows how to solve their own puzzle.
Ostensibly a cipher author probably writes for the same reason that ordinary writers do. And that is to communicate. However, rather than communicating with one and all, to the best of their ability, cipher authors intend to write only for a very specific reader. They want to communicate privately with another person, who is separated by distance, or perhaps by time, rather than speaking publicly - for whatever reason. That is the basic purpose for which a cipher-based text is generally used.
At the end of post #11, you pose the question: "Maybe I've missed it, but has any advocate of the cipher theory ever so much as asked the question "how was this text intended to be used?", let alone actually answered it?"
I am not an advocate of cipher theory. I cannot demonstrate that the VMs text is actually legible, though I accept the analytical evidence that there is probably something going on. And if there is sense to be found, then, IMO, it will be communicated in a fairly specific and non-equivocal manner, something far more restricted than the sort of 'pick a word' translations.
Apparently your perspective on the determination of value is the *value* to the person or persons who would have created the proposed cipher text. Obviously the creator of a cipher text already has access to the plain text *data*. There is no need to go through with all these fiddly bits. Every puzzle maker knows how to solve their own puzzle.
Ostensibly a cipher author probably writes for the same reason that ordinary writers do. And that is to communicate. However, rather than communicating with one and all, to the best of their ability, cipher authors intend to write only for a very specific reader. They want to communicate privately with another person, who is separated by distance, or perhaps by time, rather than speaking publicly - for whatever reason. That is the basic purpose for which a cipher-based text is generally used.