On 6/28/15, Sean Lynch <seanl@literati.org> wrote:
Which means that those with a stake in Bitcoin are better off if a fork becomes popular than if an altcoin does, because if a fork becomes popular they will already have a stake in the fork, whereas if the altcoin becomes popular at the expense of Bitcoin they will have nothing.
you make lots of false dichotomies here, neglecting the variations in exchange value between these possible altcoins and forks. "will have nothing" is not correct. maybe a little, maybe a lot, but more than "nothing".
Of course, if a fork undermines faith in Bitcoin without becoming popular, everyone will be screwed.
totally screwed - this is where the heated passions about a non-census hard fork come in. lives on the line, in a not so exaggerated sense. and by no means am i threating anyone with harm! i am explaining that when someone puts the last half decade of their life and fortune into a thing, messing with it will always generate inflamed arguments. regardless of if you're ultimately right or not. i don't care how you describe that messing, consensus or not, it's poking in sensitive places all the same...
But I don't think this is likely; either it will become popular and we'll all be better off, or it will flop and nobody will care.
"not likely" - you're going to gamble livelihoods on a hunch that it's not likely? you can see why many are so reluctant - the due diligence is lacking and the demeanor more experiment than careful transition... best regards,