My message has always been “I do not care what node implementation you run, and you don’t have to update it.” Put another way, “if you don’t like Core, run Knots.” How is that a controversial statement? It’s literally what all the knots influencers have been saying. Which core devs need to be “replaced”? All of them? Everyone who has written any code in the last year? The last two years? What’s the criteria for removal? Bitcoin Core is a voluntary, decentralized effort. Who decided who gets replaced? Who decides who is on the new “reference team”? Sounds like you’ll need a centralized team to decide that. Bitcoin obviously needs updates in the future, and maintenance in the interim — (mostly) everyone knows this.