Hero member just means they've posted over 450 times (on average) over 450 days, or made 14 posts each 2 weeks. This means you can add more content to your signature, and it makes your account worth more on this forum. This typically also means a user has more experience with this board, and has interacted enough with everyone else to know what their doing.
Mike Hearn is not a very rich or important figure when it comes to Bitcoin, his announcement was merely timed with the cryptsy collapse announcement, and they merely compounded on top of each other to form an issue. Mike had no individual effect, he was just waiting to make himself feel relevant.
You are an idiot, and a prime reason why so many people are bailing on bitcoin presently. Let's look at how the New York Times has framed this "nobody" named Mike Hearn.....
"He was one of a handful of developers around the world dedicated to maintaining the basic software that governs both the creation of new Bitcoins and the network on which the financial transactions take place.
But a nasty fight has torn apart the small brotherhood of Bitcoin developers and raised questions about the survival of the virtual currency. Mr. Hearn, until recently one of the most prominent leaders of the Bitcoin project, became so disillusioned that in December he sold the few hundred Bitcoins he had left......."LET ME TELL YOU what this is about. It has been brewing a long time. Big money in wallstreet, in banks, and venture capitolists have been funding the growth of bitcoin. They are serious, professional people, that have definite financial motives in mind. They write the paychecks for the loser little tech weenie punks that write code for them. Somewhere along the way the tech weenies began to actually ran something, that what they wanted mattered. That anybody gave a shit about their ideas on how bitcoin would ultimately be used.
At first it was amusing. But now people are not amused anymore. I assure you that this death spiral that is potentially setting up in bitcoin was triggered directly by Mike Hearn's Statements.
I do not support Mike Hearn. I think he is an ass. But I would take him a dozen times over these Blockstream/Core idiots that HAVE CAUSED ALL OF THIS.
Currently I still see a 50/50 chance that Bitcoin survives and prevails against the looming FIATCOIN that is going to be launched against Bitcoin. But just barely. Myself and many many others are watching for just a single, solitary sign.... that Classic will actually be delivered. But already I see that group getting bogged down in stupid discussions. They just can't seem to shut up and code like they are paid to.
I understand your point, and I do agree that it would have been better to have someone just do something instead of just cause drama in the Bitcoin space. I would argue though that the price drop is a combination of both Mark's comments and the Cryptsy exchange collapsing. It seems that an exchange collapse has far more impact on the price than someone's comments, but due to the two events happening quite closely together that it is difficult to measure the effects.
I do want to say that my "making him feel relevant" comment still stands, as per your "Somewhere along the way the tech weenies began to actually ran something, that what they wanted mattered. That anybody gave a shit about their ideas on how bitcoin would ultimately be used." comment, but I do understand that he is technically relevant because he is one of the people making it so everyone has to rely on him for the service to continue.
In one way I hope classic actually shows a sliver of getting released, but we'll have to see if drama will overtake that too.
I do enjoy your points, and I hope to have more dialogue with you in the future.
I am willing to say that a majority of the sellers are doing so because of the political climate within Bitcoin, and will most likely return once the victory-result is clear. It will depend more on if Bitcoin will return to previous levels or spiral into obscurity, like you said.