In some ways a long, slow slide is a worse sign for Bitcoin than a great crash, as the gradual decline may signify a loss of confidence in the system itself.
A long, slow slide is just what Bitcoin needed. I welcome a "significant loss of confidence in the system itself". If Bitcoin can be easily killed by such a loss of confidence then it would be better for us to learn this now rather than later. If it survives (as it did in late 2011) then it (and cryptocurrency in general) earns another stripe.