Quote from: BitLex on September 21, 2011, 03:23:26 PM

if you want a way to tell if/how many/which coins are lost, you have to create a fork.

No. My proposal of demurrage "for its own sake" is going to be in another fork because most bitcoin holders and miners won't accept it.
But if people want to change things, the rules are hard to change, not written on stone. The change that he proposes would only force you to move your coins from time to time. I don't see how that can "hurt you" much.

Changes in bitcoin are possible and happen. For example, if we want to have more divisibility, we have to change the protocol.
To allow more complex transactions, the protocol is going to be changed soon. You can try to convince us not to change it, but I don't think that you're going to be the majority.

If you don't like demurrage to restore lost coins and save storage space (and reward miners for longer and therefore have better security) you can try to change our minds. With arguments, not just saying "you can't do it because it goes against my freedom".
You're free to sell your bitcoins if you don't like the change. A change in the protocol doesn't happen overnight. I'm still waiting for namecoin to have merged mining, for example.