I read that comment and thought the same thing.
I think it would be a tragedy for them to miss that lesson, and then lose the ability to make beneficial contributions to Bitcoin in the future.
On a related note, the people whom I follow and consider the top thinkers in bitcoin, were perhaps 2 to 1 in favour of SPVP sidechains. I've noticed that this blocksize debate has triggered several of them to reconsider, and my hunch is that this group is now 2 to 1
against.