Now that BitcoinXT (GVC) is pretty much dead in the water I wanted to get opinions from the community on why exactly it died.
The main reasons I think it died was
1. The roaring egos of the devs
2. The increased ability to control the coin through centralization
XT failed because in a policy debate presumption is negative and the burden of proof belongs to the affirmative.
There was no problem for XT to solve, only a false sense of urgency and an attempted governance coup's social engineering attack.
"Because Zomg Full Blocks" and "Because BlockstreamTheymos 2 Minutes Hate" were nowhere near good enough reasons for the socioeconomic majority to give a fuck about the Gavinistas' stupid XT Manifesto, much less bother running the software.
TL:DR - See parts in
boldI don't think the debate is over and it won't be won on inherency take-outs and presumption, not when there has been little substantive response to the analysis provided by G and M (and Peter__R, more recently). More importantly, there is a related and systemic disadvantage to the status quo ("squo") that makes XT advocacy advantageous over the status quo and the other alternatives (and notwithstanding the outcome on blocksize): the exercising of disciplinary and biopower by certain entities and individuals to prevent the free flow of information and discourse in important public market places and spaces. Constant and relentless criticism of such exclusionary tactics, and creating inclusive discursive space, is apriori to determining a specific blocksize bip.
Consider this: recently, we have seen folks trying to participate in knowledge production about Bitcoin and the Blockchain only to have their access to the sites of said production attacked, suspended and blocked. We have seen the rhetorical artifacts (online postings) representing important knowledge, ideas and histories eradicated simply for existing and/or being different than the status quo (kinda reminds me of what's happening Palmyra). We have seen propaganda techniques embraced whereby XT is labeled as an altcoin, its proponents mocked and compared to drunken fools. We have seen cyber attacks against XT infrastructure to physically shut-down pro-XT miners. Such an environment is repressive, violent, paranoid, anti-free market and can't possibly produce long-term solutions to the types of problems Bitcoin is ultimately trying to solve. The tactics used to censor discourse about XT exemplify dangerous disciplinary power (control of systems of knowledge) and biopower (attempts to control and manage the bitcoin population via technologies of power like forum bans (and fear of), infrastructure attacks (and fear of)) (nevermind the fact that the squo can't solve the fidelity advantage a block size increase brings in the short-term (Garzik '15), quicker action being uniquely important here given perceived competition in the space). At best, the squo's is a world of exclusionary policing of knowledge for the purpose of preserving power relations. At worst, its utterly corrupt and manipulating like the current global financial order. This point has been conceded via silence and is evidenced, in part, by the recent IRC transcripts showing a calculated attempt at censorship to maintain a certain order.
All of the above reminds me of a book I read a long time ago by William Spanos called the End of Education - short synopsis here:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+End+of+Education%3A+Toward+Posthumanism.-a015267978 (
compare Spanos' analysis about how defining and influencing the composition of the "Core" curriculum at influential universities during the 1960s and 1970s was an act of politics
with the blocksize debate climate and tactics used to influence knowledge production therein).
Consequently, XT is important because its historical record and continued existence, in any capacity, is [performative] resistance to the repression and discursive violence of the status quo. XT confronts, and thereby exposes, a dangerous form of disciplinary power and biopower. Such confrontation is and has been valuable notwithstanding whatever action is ultimately taken RE: blocksize. Confrontation is likely not over, it is likely just beginning (contentious ideas are inevitable in any group-like situation where collaborative decision-making is involve, XT will be a blueprint for others). Given the stakes involved,
the framework for this debate was not, is not and cannot be one of technological polices related to blocksize (and certainly not when some arguments are too taboo or contentious to be had). Instead, the framework must be one that best preserves a free market and keeps bitcoin open source. Every act of criticism or XT advocacy helps open space and represents what Bitcoin is supposed to be about, challenging gatekeepers. Discussing XT, running and XT node, etc. - even if one is agnostic about blocksize from a tech perspective - is an act of resistance. To be clear, XT is the only alternative in the debate that can shed the shackles of the BIP and consensus decision making, which are in efficient and possibly saddled with too much bias to operate adequately.