I agree, the reason ZEC value dropped about 25% in value last week was because the word "fork" was uttered, which undoubtedly scared investors. However, it was proven that a fork did NOT occur by the ZCash team. As of today, the value of ZEC is headed back up, currently $34 as I'm writing this. So I'm not sure why anyone would be avoiding ZEC mining right now. In my opinion, the folks who made the most money on BTC were those who got in early and held on to their coins despite the roller coaster ride. Its a risk to hold on to ZEC (or any cryptocurrency), but that's what is required for huge gains.

Sure, you could mine the most profitable currency all the time and immediately dump it at the sign of trouble. A lot of people do this and achieve pretty consistent small returns, but its nothing in comparison to holding onto a cryptocurrency that then suddenly jumps to $1000 a unit or something ridiculous. I do however advocate diversification. We should all be mining more than one cryptocurrency, don't make the mistake of putting all your eggs in one basket. Personally, I mine ZCash because I believe in the concept and I think that its going to become extremely valuable in the future. I maybe entirely wrong, but no one knows what's going to happen with any of these cryptocurrencies in the future. Its all just speculation.