The announcement of the Bitcoin Foundation has shaken this community; its thread received 50 plus pages and over 13K views in about 72 hours.
LOL
It seems to me the only ones who were shaken were a relatively few who posted the same paranoia over and over again.
The exact same paranoia was posted in 50 plus pages? I think many distinct points were made actually. And besides, we're talking about
future events. Who can exactly predict and articulate the future?
What could opponents to the adoption of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 have said at that time? Could not all of their objections been hand waved away as "paranoia"?
If you count the number of unique users making comments as opposed to total posts it seems to me like the first pages
of that thread, you mention, had more positive comments than negative... and then there are all the users who might
not have posted due to... meh...
Of course early pages would be expected to start off positive. It was meant to be a positive announcement was it not? Heck even I can see the advantages of having such an organization. I've never disputed that. But as dialogue continued and objections were raised opinions could have shifted. This reminds me of the forum poll on the topic. That poll started fairly early in the debate. To my knowledge you can't go back and change answers, yet that poll still shows clear reservation to TBF was held.
I am neutral myself, perhaps tending towards somewhat positive. I don't see the foundation as being any danger to Bitcoin,
nor of it being a great force bringing awareness and light to the masses.
There are many ways it can help, sure, along with many other factors.
Yes, I agree exactly with your last sentence. It's the "along with" other factors that raises concern.