I'm in total agreement with Alex.BTC here. I haven't posted in Bitcointalk for a while, but figured I would voice my opinion since there are accusations being made that block size increase supporters are new accounts, shills, etc. Well, here's an old account, and I also think the bock size needs to go up. Core could have done so at any moment, but they refused and now we have a stalemate and a split community. It's a shame.
It is more than a shame. It is a royal fuck up. Mike Hearn and Gavin said more than 1.5 years ago total chaos would come in time unless a fix was put in. They sure guessed that one right. You might not like Hearn and Gavin, but there is no doubt they called this one precisely. Total fucking shit chaos all over the place. Even if 8MB came today, it would take more than 6 months to get stable and win back user faith. Probably too long and Ethereum or Dash will be quite strong by then. I have to agree with OP - it looks like it is over for bitcoin.
One thing is sure Gmax is a god-damned idiot. That fucker single handedly pissed off nearly everyone. Now we just need a little bit of talent to move over to the other side to strengthen the team at BU. Then, we'll be fine.