You bring up very solid points as btc is THE GOLD standard of all crypto. However I think it needs to be done and the issue cannot be ignored or delayed much longer. The reason is mainly because of the boom in altcoins the last few months. Actually I see that as the main reason btc is going with the fork. In technology every moves moves 10 times faster than other things in the world and technology grows at an exponential rate.
If btc didn't go with the fork and pushed it off for even another 6 months that could have very well been the beginning of the end of btc. With all the newer altcoins coming out with far more advanced technology than especially in transaction times that would end up hurting btc as new people that would enter the crypto market who wouldnt know any better would would buy btc and send it to an exhcange to trade for other coins . They see the the high fee since the value of btc is so high it would turn them off from wanting to invest in it .
Or people would eventually find a btc alternative that the transfer time is much faster and cheaper to do transfer. For example on Coinbase I buy LTC now and transfer that to other exchanges cause BTC would take longer and cost more for me. It mught not be much for some people but people like myself who only invest 20-50 bucks every couple weeks and transfer out to another exchange lose a few bucks that could be spent on some cheaper alt coins.
In technology to stay up with competition upgrades must happen frequently or else todays hot new item will be a thing of the past come tomorrow.
Also with the fork be prepared for BTC to surge in price like crazy for the rest of 2017 since it will be recharged and performance will be a lot faster.
Bitcoin was made as a form a currency and many vendors over the years have accepted btc as a form of payment, but with the recent lag some companies have abandoned btc and implement another form of crypto payment because they cant have the customer or them wait 15 minutes at checkout see if the transaction comes through.
Once again to reiterate, I am not disagreeing with you but understand why it needs to happen for the following reasons I mentioned
A team developed bitcoin...not a single person. How do I know that? I happen to have corresponded back in the days of the Extropian mailing list with that person.
I've read other people that agree with you.
I've read other people that say the exact opposite.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in August?
I believe you about the team of people who made it. It makes too much sense that it is the case. Reminds me of usual suspects Kaiser Soze hahaha
Also you know a lot more about Bitcoin than me, so I have to ask you with this fork , I have heard it's going to be a soft fork? Is there a difference with that and ahard fork? If there is and a hard fork covers a wider scope why not just go ahead and do that so they won't do through this again next year ?
I've heard different definitons.
Hardfork means when you come to a fork in the road...you take it...it's a change of course.
The thing that has everyone concerned is that BitCoin might take BOTH
Then there would be TWO BitCoins.
( Much like Ethereum did.)
Dunno what a soft fork is.
Are we having fun yet?