I read it all @nullius.

Maybe we should say the same thing about Jeff Garzik? He, "abandoned" core and tried to set up his own "bitcoin unlimited" or something along those lines.

When I questioned that act, others questioned my competence... (they could not question my integrity I think; or maybe it's too difficult to question a reputation.)

This is the same line of thinking I have about a great many people who have done a great many things in the past, but then decide to do something bad later in life, or are somehow coerced to do it. Martyrs are made because they died for their beliefs, not by compromising them.

For the religious out there, if you have lived the life of a saint up until the day you die, but you despair and commit a mortal sin willingly and willfully, you still go to hell. (It's arguable about suicide that in the last moments before death, one may have repented, so that's a different story altogether.) Conversely, if you have been wicked your entire life, but repent dying on a cross, that same day after your death, you could be in paradise.