I'm mentally deducting credibility points from anyone who uses those phrases. The "hostile takeover", "cabal", "benevolent dictator", "taking control", etc, because they all imply that the user of those phrases simply doesn't understand the core tenet of permissionless.
And yet...
The fork, blocksize debate and transaction DDoS spam could be intended to replace core developers with stooges who will do the bidding of miners.
Core developers have good reason to oppose a fork. There aren't any good arguments for a fork other than wresting control of btc away from core devs.
Credibility points deducted. Core do not control Bitcoin, thus there is no control to wrest. Developers cannot be replaced because they can always contribute code to the chain they want to support. Again, you have the concepts of
control and
freedom completely ass-backwards.
Miners can't force Developers to follow them.
Miners can't force Non-mining Nodes to follow them.
Developers can't force Miners to follow them.
Developers can't force Non-mining Nodes to follow them.
Non-mining Nodes can't force Developers to follow them.
Non-mining Nodes can't force Miners to follow them.
All participants are free to do whatever the hell they want and, one way or another, some combination of those participants will create the greatest incentive to follow their chain.
The flaw in your thinking is that it's somehow a binary choice between miners and devs about who "leads". It isn't. Neither one should be "in control". Neither one is "in control". So the two have the freedom to go their separate ways if that's what they want to do (and don't forget about the non-mining nodes and the role they play in balancing it all out). So keep playing conspiracy if that's what helps you sleep at night, but in the end, all the hype and drama is a feeble distraction to what's actually happening. And what's happening right now is a clear and vivid demonstration that at least half the people on this forum who think they understand Bitcoin, haven't got the slightest clue. Reality is biting hard, yet still people somehow refuse to see it. Right in front of your eyes, you have clear and undeniable proof that control has no relevance because no one is backing down.
No one is in control.
Permissionless.
Learn it.
In the scheme of things, I don't think Bitcoin Cash was coercive. It was an opt-in hard fork intended to split off from the network. That's the ideal way to hard fork.
LOL.
All hardforks are opt-in. The argument you appear to be trying to make is that hardforks are okay as long as there aren't too many people that disagree with you. But if a majority disagree with you, then it's bad because you don't want to play with the people you disagree with. But at the same time, you're less incentivised to play with those who do agree with you if it meant issues transacting due to minority chain issues like lack of hashpower. So either way, you're between a rock and a hard place. There's still no force or control involved though. There is only the alignment of incentives. Everyone does what's best for themselves, even if the choice isn't always easy.
The simple fact is, you don't get to decide how many people disagree with you. You can label it coercive if there happen to be a lot of them, but it doesn't change anything. They still disagree with you and you still can't tell them what to do.