With a clogged network, users will start abandoning BTC for alts. Change my mind

[d5000]

The scaling/fee issue is pretty complex.

First, the potentially high fees (better: the competition for blockchain space via fees) are not a bug, but a feature. They ensure that Bitcoin can also survive when the standard mining rewards approach zero. This isn't currently the case still but fees will probably already be the primary mining income 1-2 halvings from now. A big block Bitcoin would possibly run into security issues in the long term.

But obviously the fees are not good for adoption - here I fully agree.

For me, the solution has two "components":

1) Bitcoiners need to embrace LN and other second layer solutions for smaller payments (with "smaller" I mean anything lower than $100). LN is growing slowly, and some major exchanges like Bitfinex already accept it. Have patience. I think in the next bull run (myself I think the current run won't last more than a couple of months more, and in bearish/sideways phases transaction fees tend to be much lower) it will be already be mature enough to be a real alternative. I have also still hopes that sidechains and drivechains will eventually flourish.

2) A world with several strong cryptocurrencies is not bad. Many Bitcoiners consider using altcoins a kind of "treason" or even something that can damage Bitcoin. But this does not make sense for me, because Bitcoin is mainly competing with "legacy" centralized payment networks and investment opportunities. My reasoning is: if there are more strong cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin will benefit from it because it is seen widely as the "gold standard of crypto", and more available strong blockchains also help to minimize the pressure on BTCs blockchain space which can be an obstacle for adoption. These benefits in my opinion more than compensate the risk of "dilution" of Bitcoin's scarcity.

The problem I have with most altcoins however is that only a few really embrace the ideals of a decentralized cryptocurrency without a central "steering entity". Even Ethereum in my opinion is too centralized. These centralized coins are indeed competition I don't want to support. So do your research - in this forum there are several lists of altcoins which roughly follow the same principles than BTC. I mention helpix.world's excellent list with very strict criteria, and my own "classic altcoins" list in the German forum with a little bit less strict criteria (basically: no premine and/or ICO, no centralized governance and excluding forkcoins like BCH).

[NeuroticFish]

I think patience should slowly be put to the side right now because there's currently a domino effect going on where corporations and Elites are moving their funds into BTC. Since this is happening and big money is moving around the blockchain, things might get sped up in such a short timespan the system would quickly get overloaded. It already is, and this is a quite strong warning sign imo.

Since Bitcoin hold now big money, I guess that the pressure on the devs is enormous and they'll have to think and check everything 10 times to make sure they do it right and useful. Hence I'll still go for patience.
Unfortunately the technicals of LN beat me and I don't know why it's still "beta" and why the problems are not fixed / tested so it can be considered safe. But again, I'll be patient 

People usually care only about either how much money they can make off a shitcoin or how fast their money moves from point A to B. Not caring at all whether the blockchain is truly decentralized as advertised or not. So at the end of the day, if Bitcoin loses ground in front of falsely advertised shitcoins, it's bad.

If you go for an altcoin you'll have to either keep your coins in that altcoin wallet, either at an exchange (not your keys, not your coins).
Then you have to pray that there won't be a double spend exactly when you do the transfer(s).
And obviously, that specific altcoin has to be accepted by the service you need.

If Bitcoin price would not... fly... maybe you'd be right with the altcoins scenario. And if altcoins' prices would not lose so much vs Bitcoin (not only now...) or USD, maybe some would switch and keep the funds in some "top" altcoins. But now there's a better chance they sit somewhat frustrated than abandoning BTC for alts.