To understand my thoughts you need to understand that I consider joe-sixpack users to be a liability on all fronts...
Time and time again we see idiots losing their money to criminals and hucksters. Being a Bitcoin enthusiast has been like watching a fight between a skilled boxer and a punching bag and I don't see that changing as long as idiots are using Bitcoin in it's native form.
Sidechains breaks the single-point-of-failure problem which vexes a 'one-size-fits-all' solution and pushes the critical infrastructure support role to people who can handle it. It also pushes the benefits of a counter-party-risk free solution down to the masses. Nobody can stop the masses from giving their money to shysters but it's very possible to arrange for the sidechain operates themselves to have a tough time robbing their users (unlike general alts.)
Am I an 'elitist'? Fuck ya. At the end of the day, though, my goal is to have everyone who wants to be able to enjoy the benefits of distributed crypto-currencies. I just don't want to see Bitcoin ruined in the process of trying to achieve this...but am prepared to deal with this eventuality if that's the way the cookie is to crumble.
This guy is consistently getting me to listen carefully.
Kudos. You've refined my plans. And I think I am entirely in alignment with your stated views (thus far).
Btw, just because you want to stay only in BTC, doesn't mean others won't want to speculate on higher ROI and the potential to jump back in time and front run your early investment in BTC. And they might be correct. One thing you have to contemplate is that an altcoin could be structured to benefit from the pegged side chain BTC investment it (yes an altcoin that is also a pegged side chain) and offer a higher ROI on its own coin. You might assert you'd opt for the pegged side chain clone that eliminated the side coin atribute, but market dynamics may not play nicely with your desire.