it won't actually represent any loss of value
Codswallop. It would possibly trigger a complete loss of trust in all cryptocurrencies. Nobody would ever be quite sure again whether what they were putting money into would split and crater given the right levels of agitation.
If it had been an orderly and mutually supported move towards Unlimited then that would be dandy but that's not how it's playing out.
I don't know about that. People would still be holding their original Bitcoin, so maybe they'd be okay just ignoring the HF and continuing. It might be less accessible for newcomers but that doesn't mean that people will lose trust in cryptocurrencies in general.