If it splinters into a myriad of screechy chains all changing PoW, dumping and 51%ing each other then that looks like just another failed project to everyone who already believed that anyway.

Obviously a PoW change is a severe move, but your average Bitcoin wallet does not have terms and conditions where you agree to preserve the wellbeing of a bunch of strangers in a far off land making money hand over fist.

I assume that possibility would only be rolled out if there was a move from a group of miners that explicitly harmed everyone else, in which case I'd welcome it.