I think one of the difficult things is that volatility (and speculators) do play a role in a coin succeeding, as speculators make the 'network effect' problem of altcoins easier to overcome.

There's next to zero reason for a random merchant to accept an altcoin unless there are people using it, and unless that coin is known. Speculators and volatility are very big generators of noise that gets the coin noticed and helps bring in actual for-the-sake-of-the-coin holders, which then makes the coin itself more attractive to a merchant (as there are people who wish to use the coin).

As much as coin purists may like to speak derisively of speculators, I believe that altcoins would be nowhere without those who have come in to the game to try to earn money off of the volatility.