People need to do a bank run in every exchange (maybe even online wallets too) well before we reach the point of the hard fork, to ensure that they have control of their BTCs.
AlexGR raises an excellent point. If there is an upcoming contentious hardfork scheduled then the first things people are going to do is withdraw ALL their coins off the exchanges and out of any custodial services.
All those bitcoin alliance folks and corporates that have made their businesses out of holding on to other people's coins in custody should keep that mind whilst they are pushing for contentious hardforks.
Ah, AlexGR's FUD sidekick...
Which idoits are going to leave their coins on an exchange or with Coinbase or BitGo or Bitpay before a hardfork?
Why leave the vote with them which fork your coins will end up on when you can keep your options open and hedge bets by holding them in cold storage?
Not really clear why people leave quiet coins there in the first place.
Because many people think that those are the best places to keep their own bitcoin, not everyone knows all the implications of leaving coins there.
The Bitcoin world is not only made by people from this forum: I think most of the people who use BTC don't even come here to understand what it is.
We have to be realistic: for the majority of the people BTC = speculation (and we are writing in a speculation thread)
Speculation (intelligently) means understanding the bets you make, and maximizing your expected returns, which includes not getting Goxed. But then, not all speculators are good speculators. It's pretty much zero sum after all, and most lose.