Looks like that change is sitting on 41 NAKs and counting. Maintainers tend to steer clear of merging things that controversial. It’s really just a small group pushing hard for it—but we’ll see how it plays out. Knots is a tricky one. It’s got a modest but real user base and it does implement the Bitcoin protocol. But it also opens up a tough question: what happens when there are two slightly different sets of rules? On one hand, that increases the risk of a chain split if one set changes and the other doesn’t. On the other, it might slow things down—in a good way—by making it harder to push through changes without broad consensus. aka ossification. At the end of the day, we’ve got to remember why people run nodes in the first place: to uphold the rules and take part in protecting the network. It’s all about user agency. And we're only just beginning to figure out how to really support that.

Is a chain split a real possibility?

C'mon Mike she just got her node up and running, You can advise her maybe to not update core for a while until the dust settles 🤣

Thank you for this. It’s like one rabbit hole after another here 😌😅