Running Knots has a lighter mempool and feels more in tune with Bitcoin philosophy/history. This data storage use case feels uncomfortable and dangerous.

It is not about saving bitcoin from spam. It is about not storing, relaying g or promoting it.

All it takes is one controversial image.

Rationalizing this as a scheme that is "cooked up" is failure to recognize that people are genuinely concerned about spam and the op_return fiasco. My pruned snapshot from 2023 is 5 gb and is now 12 gb. The spam debate is real, grassroots, and node runners have the right to be concerned and take whatever action is needed when the conventional maintainers are derelict in their duty to protect node runner interests. We need UTXO combining and every wallet a node or able to connect to a trusted node. Spam is taking us away from that goal.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dYA9vYa0iwQ

Its not monetary if it will never be combined. Bitcoin was not designed to hold endless UTXOS forever. There cannot be 2.1 quadrillion UTXOs and we should not try. Combining is necessary for money. Spam inhibits that.

I don't think bitcoin is "doomed". I think it sucks. I got into bitcoin when it was good. Spam is lame and its supporters and apologists are compromising the best monetary network the world has ever seen. It may become existential when 90% of the UTXO set is spam dust.

Socially attack? Consensus on bitcoin being a monetary network sets it back before the real attack began with Taproot shenanigans. My money is on the line and I won't let "maintainers" continue to be derelict in their duty by inviting spam and destroying the price of Bitcoin.

Because it is a juvenile proposal. Most serious monetary bitcoiners despise gambling. Our conviction does not come from "winning" someone's bitcoin, rather it comes from keeping what we have earned in a world full of economic NPCs and fiat debasement.

Great material. Although a pruned node as "castrated" is a fairly strong position. Pruned nodes make snapshots and never have to do IBD again. The white paper included pruning for a reason and in the long, long run all nodes will eventually be pruned. Electrum servers and lightning channels are "extensions to" not "features of" bitcoin. Totally optional by providing enhancements and features such as block explorers and light client connectivity, but not a requirement.

By "pure Bitcoiner" are you referring to monetary users? I would argue that the mempool.space clogging jpeggers with their 0.1 sat per vbyte "transactions" are making node running not fun anymore. I have my 2023 prune=550 snapshot zipped around 5 gb now about 13 gb in 2026. The UTXO bloat from all this unfun garbage is filling up my RAM and disk and I am not a "Knotzi" for choosing a peaceful separation from jpeggers. If you disagree, you are welcome to relay it, store it and promote it. As for me, I enjoy my light, suckless node.

I ami'm confused by the phrase "economic conviction". My node is lighter to run, and costs me nothing to change clients. I relay the transactions that make sense to me, and I encourage others to do the same. If nobody follows me, then the rest of the network can have clogged mempools that need a plunger. Keep in mind, I don't even have to run a node in the first place. It's a volunteer system.

I don't need to gamble to show my conviction. I just need to run my node.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dYA9vYa0iwQ