Crypto currencies are new to all of us - and I am too a newby here. I guess it depends on the reason for a forking. Generally there are two options for a forking: A) because it is necessary or B) because it is profitable. There is also C) it's fun and/or possible, but in the long run that is less important.

Both (A&B) have already apllied. A) was the case in the forking of Bitcoin, since the rebels of Bitcoin Cash deemed the new stack as insufficient and other digital currencies have different features so they can be used differently (that's the market niche thing). B) was for example the creation of Steem, the platform that we are using right now, since its creators surely don't do this for altruistic reasons.

So, the tendency is to say that the forking is more positive, although the phenomenon of horizontal inflation as I described it is a negative one that could destroy cryptos, because it might destroy their value and it could become impossible for humans to keep up with AIs when doing transactions in cryptos.

I guess at the end it comes down to the question if it is possible to create a currency with a long-term stable set of qualities that is also a stable quality brand (like e.g. Swiss Francs). Then you can expect a solid long term value. In case that isn't possible, the market will eventually fracture too much and go wild that it comes down to a self-destruction.

But so far no one knows how that will end. It could be that everything goes on and in 10 years every Bitcoin will be worth 1 million. Or it could turn out that the only valuable thing that stays alive is the idea of block chains. That would mean, their development and implementation into the WWW will have cost all the value that is currently embedded in cryptos and that's around 100bn Dollar.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's 95% hype. But even if it is 99,9% hype, then the outlook of Bitcoins trading at 1 million is enough to take part with a small amount. The calculation goes:

0,1%*1million dollar in 10 years - 4000 dollar today = 6000 dollar

That would make it a very profitable investment. At the end it's all up to you.