Hi
@johnyj
the attack you propose only delays transactions there is no economic incentive to execute such an attack and it is very expensive to execute. Miners can already do a similar attack today, they can continuously mine empty blocks refusing to process transactions if successful they may mine a few blocks in a row and delay valid transaction.
Most people recommend waiting for 7 confirmations before concluding a transaction as valid or irreversible.
The 4 block rule is adjustable. You can set it to 0 and accept any block size as valid as long as it meets all consensus rules, you could set it to 9 or 1000 if you want. A high setting like 1000 would almost guarantee that if you set a block limit your node will never accept a block above that size. Personally I think there is enough evidence to set it to 0. But as a conservative I'll set an 8MB limit and continue to follow the network if a block bigger than 8MB receives 8 confirmations.
Bitcoin has always been open code that anyone can change. Hostile changes are protected by the value people place in the blockchain and on bitcoin. The reality is the value in the bitcoin ledger is in the connections to the other people in the network who agree to the same rules and values you do.
We all agree what makes a valid transaction. Small block proponents just agree there is one other criteria, and that is at 1900 transactions per block all valid transactions are valid, but (assuming 2000 tpb = 1MB block then) at, 2100 transactions per block 5% of all otherwise valid transactions are invalid.
Bitcoin Unlimited just moves the block size out of the consensus layer and puts it as a user adjustable setting. It's important to understand that all users still need to follow the consensus rules to be part of the network, but if you happen to set your block limit too low, you won't be kicked out of the network. That why that setting exists.
On the flip side of this, is the Core reality that bitcoin is broken, and cannot be trusted to the decentralised users and miners, and the rules only exist because the centralised authority Core and theymos protects the rules to protect us from ourselves.