i have a bitcoin core wallet that is several years old. this means i can claim an equal amount of every forked coin right?
Depends. Some coins allow you to claim x10 the amount you had in BTC ( So if you had 10 BTC you can claim 100 ForkedCoinX)
i know about bitcoin cash, what are the other forked coins i can claim?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2749969.0, but i wouldn't. Stick to the more popular ones as listed here for example,
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2836875.0 ( And from those i wouldn't bother to claim anything other then Bitcoin cash, gold, and maybe diamond.)
i know i have to find a new wallet that supports the new coins, and i know there are plenty of them floating around. but the truth is i know nothing about any wallet other than bitcoin core, and i'm unsure which wallets are considered trustworthy within the community. recommendations would be appreciated.
I'm also quite unfamiliar with a lot of these coins, so i'm kind of scared to make suggestions here.
For bitcoin cash, i believe
https://electroncash.org/ was/is legit. (Make sure to verify hashes etc before downloading!).
i would also like to know what i have to do to claim my new coins. some google reading tells me i have to empty my wallet and import the private keys to another wallet. this makes me a little nervous cause my coins have been sitting undisturbed for years and the thought of messing this up and ending up with nothing is terrifying. step by step instructions would also be greatly appreciated.
That would indeed be a smart thing to do. You don't even have to sent them to another wallet. Simply transfer them to a different private key within your wallet.
This way, if the wallet you are claiming forked coin X from is malicious ( steals your private key etc) they can't take any bitcoin, since it's no longer kept on that key.
i keep hearing about replay protection and not to do anything without it. what is that exactly and which forked coins support it? what are the other risks i might face by trying to claim forked coins?
I hope every forked coin supports it. I am not entirely sure which do and don't, but i think a simple google search will be sufficient to find out.
What is Replay protection and what can happen if it isn't implemented.i know i have to have a wallet before the fork, but is there any other time sensitive requirements i should know about? can i claim my forked coins at any time? considering not doing anything for now and doing this at a later date.
This might depend on the fork itself, but yes, in general you should be able to "claim" your coins at any given moment. As it isn't really "Claiming" but rather accessing your coins on said blockchain. Would be weird if your coins would just disappear because they haven't been accessed for X time.
do coins spent after the fork effect the amount received when i claim the forked coins or is it all about the snapshot of the block chain at the time of the fork?
That would only make sense if the coin has no replay protection. So in most if not all cases, no.
