Who actually wants the Voynich solved?

[rikforto]

We had one solver once acknowledge some points but then say something like "but because the solution is right, there must be an explanation out there somewhere, so it really doesn't matter."

Without really disagreeing, I do think there is sometimes some merit to the point. If the solution were to hold, in some cases it would moot the criticism. It always comes down to how much the solution and the outstanding question actually conflict.

At risk of bringing over what has been a contentious issue on another thread, one thing I give the Chinese Theory some slack on is the criticism that there were few European travelers in East Asia in the early 1400s. I agree a convincing linguistic solution from East Asia would flip that on its head; the journey was feasible and precedented, and such a manuscript would strongly imply some kind of exchange at that time. No one following that thread will be surprised I don't fully discount the criticism either, but I think it is very much a secondary point and has to be made carefully.

Solvers frequently return the favor by not appreciating that those holes are often drawing attention to well-known problems among Voynicheers, not just demanding a thorough explanation for its own sake. (Not that the latter is entirely out of bounds, mind you.) The example of the many solvers who do not address the entropy problem but who nonetheless hold a "translation" moots the issue is apt. They are in for a bad time, not because we don't want a solution or haven't considered alphabetic substitution, but because all of us can write the basic outline of that critique in our sleep before even seeing the particulars of that genre of solution.