While I do agree with jonnybitcoin that the best candidates for bitassets early on are fiat and other highly traded commodities, I also think that getting cryptocommunities onboard to work on bitassets and experimenting with them is the only way we find the best ways to help bitassets succeed in general. The more we learn (and document), the better we all are.
I don't think it looks badly on bitassets in general as long as people are informed that bitassets with low liquidity can be dangerous.
As for sidechains, its a great idea and one we should all work toward.