Massive damage? I know this is spec forum, but the price remains one of the least important things. It is undeniable, bitcoin is the future.
My point, if you read back 6 or 8 pages (which I wouldn't inflict on you), is that BTC has lousy PR, while Gox is pretty canny at spinning news in their favour. The story should've been Gox's incompetency but instead it became a flaw with BTC.
BTC may be the future but the infrastructure needs improving, fixing etc. And the lessons from this week are the Bitcoin Foundation needs to improve its marketing and PR and deal with criticism head on, swiftly and aggressively.
what PR? The exchanges have a big impact on the price of Bitcoin. When the Bitcoin protocol is fine but the exchanges not, the price will change. You saw this on Gox all the time. BTC out: easy, cash out: hard -> price of btc is higher.