[2017-11-05] A Simple Guide to What Bitcoin Forks Are and Why They Happen

[Iloveelvis]

Right now people keep hearing about the pending fork scheduled for on or around November 16. Because software forks and blockchain splits can be a confusing subject, we want to explain just what a fork is and what it means for all the network participants involved.

If you are just getting involved in cryptocurrencies, and you’ve done a little research, you might have read about the great scaling debate and the topic of bitcoin forks recently. Forks represent changes to the bitcoin protocol that make previous rules valid or invalid. Cryptocurrency forks are merely protocol upgrades, and there are two types of blockchain forks that bitcoin enthusiasts refer to: a soft fork and a hard fork.

Both types of forks can be radical changes to the underlying protocol, but they have two key differences. A soft fork is a rule change that is backward compatible; which means the new rules can still be interoperable with the legacy protocol.

In contrast to this method, a hard fork enables a rule change to the software, but it does not have backward compatibility. This means a hard fork is a permanent split from the legacy rule-set, or version, of the blockchain before the fork occurred.

Read More here>>>  https://news.bitcoin.com/a-guide-to-what-a-bitcoin-fork-is-and-why-they-happen/

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[Mysterious01]

Right now people keep hearing about the pending fork scheduled for on or around November 16. Because software forks and blockchain splits can be a confusing subject, we want to explain just what a fork is and what it means for all the network participants involved.

If you are just getting involved in cryptocurrencies, and you’ve done a little research, you might have read about the great scaling debate and the topic of bitcoin forks recently. Forks represent changes to the bitcoin protocol that make previous rules valid or invalid. Cryptocurrency forks are merely protocol upgrades, and there are two types of blockchain forks that bitcoin enthusiasts refer to: a soft fork and a hard fork.

Both types of forks can be radical changes to the underlying protocol, but they have two key differences. A soft fork is a rule change that is backward compatible; which means the new rules can still be interoperable with the legacy protocol.

In contrast to this method, a hard fork enables a rule change to the software, but it does not have backward compatibility. This means a hard fork is a permanent split from the legacy rule-set, or version, of the blockchain before the fork occurred.

Read More here>>>  https://news.bitcoin.com/a-guide-to-what-a-bitcoin-fork-is-and-why-they-happen/

Thank you for a very useful information about what forks are.
I have idea about forks and I congrats you for explaining it smoothly. I'm sure newbie can understand your explaination. I am also looking forward to the coming forks.

[iamTom123]

Hard fork is just like saying that it is the point of no return. Once it is done that that's it whatever will happen afterwards will be there for the time being unless a new hard fork can be done. A fork is necessary because with Bitcoin we are growing everyday there would be immense clogging in the system had there been no scheduled forks (though many people are claiming that they still have to feel the direct benefits for hard forks because transfer fees are still considerably high). 

This and more is just one of the many dynamics happening in the Bitcoin community. Being the first and the original and without Satoshi Nakamoto at the helm (just like what Buterin Vitalik is doing with Ethereum), there are always divisions and disagreements which resulted into two splits so far (BitcoinCash & BitcoinGold). No wonder some are saying that there are actually better form of cryptocurrencies right now aside from Bitcoin but then again in terms of popularity and acceptance nothing can beat Bitcoin.