Call it security or stability if you wish. People want both.
How does User Activated Soft Forks help with this? Miners don't signal for segwit, so impatient users demand soft fork to force miners. Is the network stable or secure now?
there is no "user activated soft fork"
in short
soft=pools only
hard= NODES then pools
save repeating myself:
below these umbrella terms is what could happen.. in both hard and soft it can either continue as one chain. or bilateral split
softfork: consensus - >94% pools no banning/ignoring of minority. result: small 5% orphan drama then one chain. minority unsynced and dead
softfork: controversial - >50% pools no banning/ignoring of minority. result: long big% orphan drama then one chain. minority unsynced and dead
softfork: bilateral split - intentionally ignoring/banning opposing rules and not including them. result: 2 chains
hardfork: consensus - >94% nodes, then >94% pools no banning/ignoring of minority. result: 5% orphan drama then one chain. minority unsynced / dead
hardfork: controversial - >50% nodes, then >50% pools no banning/ignoring of minority. result: big% orphan drama then one chain. minority unsynced / dead
hardfork: bilateral split - intentionally ignoring/banning opposing rules and not including them. result: 2 chains
yep even in a pool only vote, bilateral splits can happen.
do not take one "teams" fake rhetoric of softs best case scenaro and hards worse case scenario.. as thats just the 'brush it under the carpet' gameplay
secondly. segwits soft consensus.. if ever activated. is not true "native node backward compatibility" meaning native nodes are no longer full nodes..
what it means is native nodes need to be handed a FILTERED block (translated by upstream filter nodes(segwit) whereby native nodes are not full nodes. they dont even get to be full relay either because the upstream filters control what nodes connect as true full node peers and what are downstream nodes that only get selective data.
essentially leaving old nodes in a hodge-podge if semi full nodes.(like second class citizens)
EG
native nodes cant sync TO newer nodes because they lack the real full block data.
native nodes cant sync from new newer nodes in pruned mode because they lack the real full block data.
segwit with all its filters and pruning and no-witness modes changes the network into a diluted count of real full nodes. rathre then having a proper hard consensus that puts everyone on the same level playing ground