What cards were they shown with Classic? Classic is a simple and straightforward offering, it puts the 2MB upgrade to a block vote. There are no cards to discover. Maybe with Blockstream to get them to commit to their "final offer".
They only thing they have done is to demonstrate that they are unreliable and that their words mean nothing. That is not exactly a positive development for them.
And yes they may "know" that they have all the cards and are acting as such, but in reality they do not hold all of the cards. Users do. And more users are getting ticked off every day. Users have options and the final say, and if this keeps up it will be time in a few weeks to remind them as such.
I don't know the cards as I wasn't there, but the miners surely do!
I was alluding to the fact that *if* anyone did have an agenda that wasn't entirely open/honest then this kind of behaviour would be the perfect way to discover what it was.
I would say there is perhaps a certain amount of ego involved in both dev teams. Flattery is a powerful tool. If anyone in core or classic does have strong ego, then by feeding it you invite that person to become over confident in their own ability. Conversely they will also underestimate the intelligence of those around them (the miners). Believing the miners to be stupid, one might start to push the boundary of what you could reasonably expect someone to believe. In this situation there is a high risk of exposing any ulterior motive because your guard is down.
Now put yourself on the receiving end of the miner behaviour. You might start to think that they are daft and that they don't realise the users actually have the power.
Personally, I wouldn't underestimate these guys. I think they know exactly how the incentive system works. Their actions are speaking much louder than their words.
http://www.chinastrategies.com/the-king-the-fool-and-the-fox/
The Fool Strategy
The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life.
Samurai Maxim
The second strategy is the exact opposite of the King strategy, playing the fool. It involves a non-stop display of acting and gesturing. The idea is to provide so much body language that it is impossible for opponents to detect the true mood beneath the surface display, not being able to read the signs because of too much background noise. There are several roles the fool can play. Some use continuous pantomimes, others pretend to be angry and upset, some tell jokes and tease. Playing the fool also serves another advantage; having your opponent underestimate you. The saying you can’t judge a book by its cover is never truer than in a sparring ring but not everyone knows this. If you succeeded in having your opponents underestimate you they will tend to drop their guard and their responses will become slower. This tactic only works once though with a smart fighter.
[doublepost=1456394939][/doublepost]To expound on the "incentive system" point:
Imagine they (miners) have decided to they want 2MB blocks. They know full well they need user support. How do they get it?
They can't just fork (well they can - thats how it works! - but they fully understand incentives not to). That would play right into the hands of those that would call it a hostile takeover. What they have to do first is gain support of the users. Make it so the users are crying out for the switch.
However, they can't just say "oh 1MB is bad", because that would just be another angry voice in the crowd. What they have to do is behave in such a manner as to make other participants expose themselves.
In this fashion, it is no longer the miners driving the change, they have simply created an environment in which that change is seemingly inevitable. So that when they do effect that change the risk of user revolt has been mitigated.
[standard "maybe wishful thinking", "don't necessarily think core is evil","just idle speculation" disclaimers.]
