They can’t because you don’t have to run their update.
Discussion
It takes a long time for a new user to get a node up and running, then learn what OP_RETURN is, and finally figure out they need to downgrade to an older version to be able to choose.
So this is about new users not current users?
No it’s an ideological debate.
It's largely about new users because it's about underinformed users.
But its not simply a matter of downgrading version. If you do that, you miss out on future updates and whatever features and bugfixes they have. That's not a realistic option.
So core didn't come with a pick and choose option. I thought that was just my own lack of technical ability. That alone should have been a clear indication to every node runner that core was never a true consensus tech. In which case, along with the majority of developers working on that one same project, which would naturally tend toward centralization, none of this should be a surprise. Or supported.
If a pick and choose ability exists (in any software), I'm not aware if it, but also I am quite limited by my own lack of technical ability. I have asked on nostr for how to do that in the past, and got no answers, so I'm pretty confident its not a thing. I think your assessment is correct - Core is antithetical to the Bitcoin ethos.
I would legitimately pay a dev to monitor #asknostr to answer in depth technical questions. I would bet more sats than that that a lot of other people would too.
Agreed. At the very least, that's the kind of thing that we need to be zapping.
i try sometimes but don’t know too much about
You could create a bot that would do this. Obviously the database would be rather large, but it seems like a better solution than having a dev on call 24/7.
There could be an option to speak to a qualified individual and you could pay that person per session or per question. Choosing the latter option would ping an established list of knowledgeable people, so it wouldn’t be up to just one person to monitor the hashtag.