Bitcoin Core might be dead.

It isn't about OP RETURN per se -- it is about *the reaction* to OP RETURN. The mob justice.

It seems to me, that you can't get anything useful done under these conditions. OP RETURN is a very small fry -- very very small.

So -- what does it mean, for Core to be dead?

In the short run, I don't know.

In the long run, miners will run the software that **maximizes their revenue**. The devs of **that software** will obviously allow all OP RETURN sizes, sorting them by fee.

People who care about DoS protection (or something else), might run different nodes (or no node at all). If they try to reject a *valid*, block that is accepted by 51% hashrate -- then they are hardforking off the network, like BCH. Empty threat.