Author: Erik Aronesty 2017-06-15 18:38:57
Published on: 2017-06-15T18:38:57+00:00
In a discussion on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list, Jameson Lopp suggested that users can show their opinion on consensus changes by either following miners or forking away and leaving. Zheming Lin asked if users really have a choice and whether they should be able to follow miners or not. Eric Voskuil responded by stating that Bitcoin is not a democracy and that participation is the only method of expressing one's opinion on consensus at the protocol level. He argued that the only choice is to participate or leave and that those who surrender their say on consensus now grope for a way to have their say. He also pointed out that measuring meatspace consensus is tricky, and most attempts at measuring user consensus would be best described as signaling rather than voting. Finally, he noted that if one wants a say in either hard forks or soft forks, they must participate in the respective operation.
Updated on: 2023-06-12T02:37:57.230883+00:00