You can't have majority ignore the rules just because they are the majority. The software was law. It was disregarded. Now whatever the law is, it's meaningless. Note how in real life, people cannot be prosecuted retroactively. If what they did was a crime at that time, only then will there be punishment.

Actually you can-- look up jury nullification.

When the slaves from the southern US started escaping north and towards Canada, many northerners who aided them were put on trial because technically they broke a law because slaves were considered property.

The jury would acquit them because they did not believe in the spirit of the law.

Some people believe jury nullification is required for a truly democratic justice system.

Also in this scenario, the fork is essentially the majority's way of saying "we don't believe in the spirit of this contract, it wasn't meant to behave that way." Obviously, that brings up many complications. But the majority believed that a fork is essential to save the platform and worth the potential split in the community.

Irrelevant. And the transition of Rome from republic to dictatorship (setting in motion its decline) similarly had wide support of the community, and even began with Pax Romana or 200 years of relative tranquility...

The community was penny wise and pound foolish. They saved their asses on that one stupid investment and set a terrible precedent that is going to come back to haunt them every time someone releases a smart contract with a bug in it.

Either the code is the contract or it isn't.

Btw -- what has the DAO even accomplished after they 'saved' it?

> what has the DAO even accomplished after they 'saved' it?

It has warned a lot of people to stay the hell away from this kind of construct because it can't be trusted. That's a pretty good accomplishment.