"Cure killing the patient"
I am interested to see what happens after the coin reduction. I think initially miners may not know about the change. If they are mining on their own or through a pool that does not update then we will be left with two different blockchains. Supposedly the longer chain is supposed to win but that can be circumvented if the devs convince everyone to use the new version...specifically the exchanges. If the exchanges do not agree with the change then we have a real mess on our hands. Arguably both sides have rightful claims...I'm sure the devs will simply state to the miners/exchanges that did not update "too bad" and move on...at that point the people on the longer chain can continue on their own with the alternate blockchain releasing a client with the older specs trying to convince people to use that version or cut their losses.
The right way to do this is to code in voting on the change allowing the miners to decide what happens (see bitcoin) but that is not happening here due to this change being made specifically to hurt/punish the miners. I even came up with a viable dialogue of "extending the mining time from 3 years to 30" as a reason for the change as that seems nicer than what is being communicated and is ultimately what is happening (I think...have not reviewed the code).
All of this is entertaining to me....but I can see it being financially harmful to others if they are not aware.
Ultimately the end result might be a reduction to about 200-400 Mh/s on the new chain if that's the one everyone decides to end up using.
I myself do not particularly like the new client as it relies on graphic drivers that not everyone has. Specifically it would not work in a VM but that may have been addressed in newer builds. It also required an "installation" which I don't like but I can get around that by installing it on a burner system and copying the exe.
I prefer to use 1.3.0.0 but suppose I will have to upgrade if everyone agrees to start using the new specs (version 3.0). It appears as v3.0.0.0 (the one that reduces the reward) was officially released (mistakenly?) 6 days ago but no announcement has been made.
I understand people have the best intentions but I can't seem to think it is not being handled very well....like I said....entertaining.
Not sure if I should bother posting any longer as I am starting to feel like I am just being a downer but am just trying to provide guidance from experience. I have NO financial motivation even though I am a top 30(?) holder of this coin. I generally just hold on to all my digital currency other than LTC/BTC..perhaps hoping one of them will explode one day but doubtful any ever will.
I can be blamed for not stepping up to help the situation but I honestly don't have the desire to become involved other than my random spats on the message board.