Who is even still working on a solution for the VMS?

[eggyk]

When I look around here, there are very few people who are committed to working on a solution over the long term (e.g. Stolfi, Rubin Novacna, myself, u.a), and many of the “one-hit wonders” who pop in, propose a completely off-the-wall solution, and then disappear again.

That’s why I’m interested in the question: Who here is still honestly and consistently working on a plausible solution? And in what direction is it heading?

I believe that there is currently not enough information available to "solve" the manuscript, let alone prove the solution. I would try, but I fear that I probably lack the ability to make a genuine breakthrough in text analysis beyond some kind of initial insight, and even that is probably wishful thinking. 

So I have been trying to expand the surrounding knowledge and context of the manuscript instead, such as the ink/parchment properties, new image analysis, and comparisons to other manuscripts for the imagery, paleography, the month names, and other marginalia in general. Hopefully, whatever small amount I can contribute will one day be a small part of evidence in favour of a found solution. Alternatively, I hope that those findings may help others to have new insights and leads, which could one day lead them to a solution.