"there is no such thing as spam since a paying tx is a valid tx”

Well this is the crux of the matter after all, that there is "spam" on the blockchain & why people like Kratter are so concerned (tbh I haven't come across anyone who is close to him on this subject, he really spends a LOT of time worrying about it). " Spam" is the reason that Knots exists. As I've said I am all for different implementations of nodes but the root of this discussion is whether you believe spam is a threat or even a concern to bitcoin.

In my time in bitcoin, 8 years, it appears to me that most people who have a deep understanding of bitcoin are not comcerned. Kratter & Mechanic (who I first heard about two years ago when he brought up the spam issue & then it died out until earlier this year after Core's dumb & badly handled discussion on the forum) are consumed with it. I'm fine with people running Knots if they want. As the article says once Luke knew he had his coins stolen he issued a warning not to download or trust Knots until the issue was resolved because the attacker had got his pgp keys. Damn! So yeah if that's something you are willing to risk over the perceived threat of spam that's your choice.

The whole spam discussion is going to die out again & will probably be brought up again. If you are worried about it and want to try to filter it out go ahead. Most of us realize it isn't as big of a threat as people like Kratter want us to believe (and use baseless accusations aimed at Core developers to convince others of their views) but if you want to run Knots that's fine go ahead.