Exclaiming you were right doesn't make you right. The only precedent the witnesses set was that they will protect the blockchain when presented with an existential threat, and I'm glad they did.
A threat that has existed since this chain's inception, and they didn't really pay attention to it because they had a few accounts who pretty much guaranteed the top 20 positions.
Essentially, nothing changed. Just leadership of the biggest stakeholder company on here. Right then it became okay for the witnesses to 'protect the chain'. Foul play.