Bitcoin Fork...Confused

[badboyrazor]

I am reading a few topics about bitcoin forking. Is this really happening?

Can anyone care to explain why Bitcoin is all of a sudden forking?

Is that because of the hack?

And is this a good thing for bitcoin?

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[BitcoinHodler]

where did you read that bitcoin "is forking"?

they have been talking about the bitcoin hard fork and soft fork for ages. and there are many arguments about the problems that the hard fork is going to cause for bitcoin. but it is not happening to my knowledge.

maybe it was ETC that you saw, it is a fork for an altcoin called ethereum that happened a while ago and you can see the problems with that now. there are two chains of the same coin available and nobody wants to back down.

[edit]shorena posted this as i was writing

It already did, weeks ago[1].
https://blockchain.info/block/000000000000000002cce816c0ab2c5c269cb081896b7dcb34b8422d6b74ffa1

wait, i am confused. OP is asking about "Fork" but that is halving not fork?

[NUFCrichard]

I am reading a few topics about bitcoin forking. Is this really happening?

Can anyone care to explain why Bitcoin is all of a sudden forking?

Is that because of the hack?

And is this a good thing for bitcoin?

Bitcoin isn't forking, ETH forked. People might be drawing parallels between the DAO theft and the Bitfinex Bitcoin theft, so are saying that Bitcoin should fork.
Bitcoin won't fork, it is a differenct set of circumstances, and the whole ETC/ETH mess shows that forks aren't a great idea anyway.

[ImHash]

if bitcoin follows the eth forking story then good bye bitcoin. I doubt bitcoin going to fork and even if there is going to be any forking for bitcoin it should come to the decision of all the nodes and miners at least.

[DannyHamilton]

Bitcoin has switched to forked code in the past.

It wasn't a bad thing.

Bitcoin might switch to forked code in the future.

It might be a good thing, or it might be a bad thing.

Anyone can release a fork of the bitcoin code anytime they want.  It doesn't matter and doesn't have any effect unless a large number of users decide that they want to use the new code.

If everyone wants to use the new code (which is what has happened in the past), then the fork is not contentious and the switch to the new code is easy.

If a large number of people want to use the new code, and another large number of people still want to use the old code, then the blockchain splits into two incompatible blockchains both calling themselves the "official" bitcoin.  This can lead to confusion, chaos, and loss of faith in the currency.

So, most people will avoid switching to new forking changes unless they are confident that an overwhelming majority of all users will be switching.  Since it is difficult to get an overwhelming majority of users to agree on ANYTHING, it is extremely difficult to get the community to accept any forking changes.

[Coding Enthusiast]

Bitcoin has switched to forked code in the past.
#snip#

when was this?

[7788bitcoin]

The decision on "to fork" or "not to fork" has not been made. It is not an easy decision like the one happened in Ethereum.
All of us are still studying the effect and aftermath of ethereum and ethereum classic, which to me is a good lesson of what may happen if this happen in Bitcoin.

[cr1776]

Bitcoin has switched to forked code in the past.
#snip#

when was this?

A number of times.

Some were unintentional, some intentional forks, e.g.:
Aug 2010: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=822.0
Feb 2012: version message change
March 2013/BIP50:  https://bitcoin.org/en/alert/2013-03-11-chain-fork    
  and https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0050.mediawiki

Jul 2015: http://www.coindesk.com/double-spending-risk-bitcoin-network-fork/

[DannyHamilton]

Bitcoin has switched to forked code in the past.
#snip#

when was this?

A number of times.

Some were unintentional, some intentional forks, e.g.:
Aug 2010: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=822.0
Feb 2012: version message change
March 2013/BIP50:  https://bitcoin.org/en/alert/2013-03-11-chain-fork    
  and https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0050.mediawiki

Jul 2015: http://www.coindesk.com/double-spending-risk-bitcoin-network-fork/

Anyone that thinks we are running the exact same code that was released by Satoshi Nakamoto in early 2009 with no consensus affecting changes has no sense of history.

Even the current 1 MB block size was a consensus rule change "soft fork" implemented in fall of 2010.

[Coding Enthusiast]

Bitcoin has switched to forked code in the past.
#snip#

when was this?

A number of times.

Some were unintentional, some intentional forks, e.g.:
Aug 2010: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=822.0
Feb 2012: version message change
March 2013/BIP50:  https://bitcoin.org/en/alert/2013-03-11-chain-fork   
  and https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0050.mediawiki

Jul 2015: http://www.coindesk.com/double-spending-risk-bitcoin-network-fork/

i was reading up on the history of forks and changes and also the links you gave.
was BIP50 "the only" hard fork?

but also it is my understanding that changes like 2013 fork and others are considered soft-forks since only miners had to change not all others. am i right?

edit: reading this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2s2utx/the_hard_fork_missile_crisis/cnlqcd1

[CIYAM]

i was reading up on the history of forks and changes and also the links you gave.
was BIP50 "the only" hard fork?

It would not really be correct to call that a hard fork as only a small number of mining pools had to downgrade to keep everything going (non-mining users were not forced to downgrade at all).

Unfortunately there isn't even "consensus" (of the human variety) about "what is consensus" so the terms soft fork and hard fork are often confused.

[Gahs]

\-Bottom line, bitcoin is not going to be forked.
 
In reference to what happened to ETH and ETC, I think it will keep the ETH developers on their toes to keep improving ETH/*

[will_k]

is it that article about chinese miners? i vaguely recall an article like that recently

[Mark1003]

is it that article about chinese miners? i vaguely recall an article like that recently

Really? so you're saying that bitcoin will also conduct hard fork? Same with what ETH did. Is bitcoins suffering a hack now? I think it was yesterday when the price of bitcoin suddenly drops. It may be an indication that bitcoin is hacked. Hmf? In that case, it is not good for us that we may suffer from problems. And I don't want to make that happen.

[CIYAM]

An exchange (Bitfinex) was hacked and that has resulted in some panic selling but Bitcoin isn't going to be hard forking to try and "bail out" that or any other exchange.

It should probably be looked at as a buying opportunity.

[Mark1003]

I am reading a few topics about bitcoin forking. Is this really happening?

Can anyone care to explain why Bitcoin is all of a sudden forking?

Is that because of the hack?

And is this a good thing for bitcoin?

Hmf ? Not sure if it will happen. And if wr are pertaining about the reason for it. Majority will say that it is because of the hack. (Including me) remember the EH ? It did the forking also, after it wad hacked and now it is bug free and ooerating normal again, so I think it would be good if it will be done in bitcoin also, to remove the exploitation and bugs thay was caused by the hackers.