Question about "the block size war" in 2017

Hello folks,

I recently posted the following text in the "official" Bitcoin sub after I had some discussion with some dudes from the "btc" sub, a space for people who got censored by the "Bitcoin" sub moderators. I first thought that the "btc" guys were just exaggerating until I my own post got deleted (they didn't even tell me the reason for the ban), so I try to post it in this sub instead. I wanted to hear some opinions about the topic since the answers of the btc sub sounded quite convincing and educational.

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Hi folks,

**disclaimer for the mods:** I'm not promoting another hardfork or crypto coin, but use it as a reference to understand what happened in the **block size war in 2017** and why the Bitcoin community decided the way it did.

I had an interesting discussion recently with one member of the "btc" sub, because they were basically declaring Bitcoin as dead due to the recent price drop.

There was one point mentioned in that discussion, which I wanted to elaborate:

In 2017, as far as I know, there had been a "block size war".

One party wanted to increase the block size to improve transaction speed and use Bitcoin's L1 as a P2P currency in everydays life without reliance on a L2 as third party like the Lightning Network.

The other party rejected this proposal, won "the war" and kept the block size as it is.

Therefore, Bitcoin's identity shifted more towards the aspect of being a **store of value** and drifted away from being a **P2P cash system**.

As someone who wants to participate in the Bitcoin community to gain more independence from the current FIAT system, I found the argument of the discussion partner interesting. My goal is not to become a millionaire over night but to support a movement which can fight back against a financial system I have been opposed to for decades.

Since I don't have more insight and knowledge about the "block size war" in 2017 and BCH (a fork which probably started after this war) in general, I wanted to ask you guys about your opinion. Is it a good thing that we kept the block size as it is? Are the critics right or wrong and why?