The nodes can give choices, but the marketplace makes the choice which chain to follow- therefore how big a change is this to not warrant a fork?

Nodes follow the consensus valid PoW chain with the most work. Policy be damned

This is what Maxwell had to say in full context. The point he is making is that you don't want to incentive alternative relay networks. Nodes, core or knots or otherwise, will still validate and relay valid blocks with valid transactions in them. But it hurts decentralization if you're validating mi...

The nodes are the ultimate decision-makers of the protocol. The most important part. We are the knots

Yup Restriction on spams is necessary

Sounds retarded.

Yes, totally agree, except for spam nodes and underinformed nodes of course. They shouldn't have too much of a say. You need to be able to devote resources in order to have a large sway on things. Although my method is individual choice of filters and of OP_RETURN pricing per node for their mempool...