Right in front of my eyes mate:

I don't have a problem with taking 2 attempts at deploying a hard fork as long as the functionality in that hard fork represents a significant strategic leap forward.

Taking 2 shots at it isn't the issue. The issue is how the devs react to the setback because situations like this can either make or break a technology project. In this case, I'm of the opinion that this setback will be the "making" of Darkcoin, the reasons being that:

 - it is being reacted to in an aggressively constructive manner
 - following this event, DRK is likely to have a development and testing capacity that blows most crypto currency projects away
 - we are now doing "serious" functionality that gets to the heart of what this coin was about. A 3 week delay is nothing
 - DRK's market penetration is now huge, with multiple fiat gateways, top 5 listings everywhere. To have that PLUS a solid product that has traversed the "right of passage" phase will make DRK almost unassailable
 - other coins just have all this in front of them. It's par for the course in any high tech project.