We are running a coin with honor and integrity so we decided to let the public know as soon as possible just in case they wanted to move their coins out of exchanges until the smoke cleared.
I agree with everything you said except for the above point.
when a 51% attack happens the absolute worst thing you can do is try to move coins around.
the reason being that a successful attack creates a fork in the network.
this is effectively two separate block chains working in parallel.
now eventually all the miners move over to the dominant chain.. this is the self healing quality that makes block chain technology so amazing..
the problem is though that when this happens ALL transactions made on the weaker chain get voided. There is no easy way of knowing if you are on the correct chain when an attack happens.
so if people suddenly rush to take their coins off the exchange while an attack is happening there is NO way of guaranteeing they will end up in their wallets and even if the coins do show up there is no way of guaranteeing they will stay there (because you might be on the wrong chain).
if peoples withdrawals from exchanges don't go through they tend to panic and take to message boards and spread further panic. further panic on message boards can lead to mass dumping on exchanges.
all of this combined only creates bigger problems for the exchange and the community at large.
therefore the best course of action during any kind of 51% attack is the same kind of action you would take if a typhoon or earthquake hits your town... Stay in doors.. keep calm and do not panic... do not run around outside trying to secure your valuables, if you do that then you will only increase your chances of getting hurt...
it is only well before or after an attack has occurred that people should be reevaluating where their coins are being held.
the bottom line is and always has been... if you do not want your coins taken via theft, loss or damage... keep them in your personal wallet in a safe place that only you have access to.
(A 51% attack cannot steal coins from your personal wallet, it only affects people actively mining a coin or making transactions)
An exchange is the
least secure place to hold coins because that is where they are most centralized and each coin that an exchange supports is effectively a door through which thieves and scam artists can sneak in.
can you imagine a bank with 100+ entrances? this is basically what some exchanges are.
This is the last post I will do on this matter as people seem to just want to drag this out and seem to just want to hear themselves talk. The whole point was we knew it happened at MintPal but did not know if other exchanges were next, in the next minute, the next hour, or the next day. So yea it was already too late and all you could do is wait it out if the attack was active at your exchange but at least you had the heads up incase you had coins at other exchanges and wanted the opportunity to move them before they got hit. We did not tell anyone to do anything we just gave them the info we had so they could take whatever course of action they saw fit. I personally moved a good chunk of coins out of Cryptsy that i had just bought a few days ago and had not yet sent to my wallet. Again it was speculated it was a 51% attack but it could have been a lot more, we did not have an in depth explanation of the extent of the attack at the time.