Imagine waking up tomorrow with the solution to the Voynich Manuscript.

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Conclusion: if you post your solution and it is universally rejected by people who have actually studied the manuscript, then you know it's a bad solution.

Sorry, but that is not correct.  History is full of examples where practically all the experts in a field rejected what was in fact a correct and ground-breaking discovery/solution/invention.

While everybody here wants to solve the VMS riddle, most will instinctively want that someone else's proposal be proved false if it contradicts their own long-held beliefs, on which they invested much time and reputation, etc.  Thus they will look first for any flaws in the new proposal, and ignore or dismiss as "not significant" the evidence that supports it.

But that is the game in any field of research.  The good side is that it ensures that new proposals are promptly and thoroughly checked.

And that is not to say that expert opinions are worthless.  But they must be considered by their substance -- not simply for being "from experts".

All the best, --stolfi