Not so "automatically".  The reason why the devs like soft forks is that they can deploy the protocol changes without having to alert everybody to upgrade (and therefore to explain *why* the change is good for them).


What I meant is that big junk generating businesses can upgrade to exploit SW immediately, while the majority of the occasional clients will take months to do so.


Phew, for a moment I was afraid that Blockstream had relented and proposed SW as a way to increase the capacity and avoid congestion.  But with users inertia and a bit of help from junk generators, the "fee market" may still begin in six months or so. 

So everything is back to the status quo in diebus bello, and the Bitcoin Stalling Conference had the outcome that everybody expected.