Bitcoin is crypto. There's even a whole lot of cryptocurrencies based on Bitcoin with a variable or two changed somewhere.
Which is stupid, because Bitcoin is THE number 1 crypto, but for some reason they're all claiming it isn't.
In all seriousness, it's not just a talking point. Bitcoin's invention, promises, implementation, and operation has significant fundamental differences from all the others. If all you can be bothered to do is say, "yep, they all look the same to me," then maybe just sit out this conversation?
Cryptocurrency folks do sometimes take the open source Bitcoin code and make small (or large) changes to it in order to do their work. When they do this they create a separate codebase, separate network, and a separate currency. Almost inevitably they do so in such a way as to greatly benefit themselves and to fool you.
I don't see any significant difference between Bitcoin and the rest. Bitcoin was just the first thing that stuck but that doesn't grant it any special privileges.
Yeah, inertia, social pressure, and economic incentives. For instance miners are into it for the money, so to them technology doesn't matter. A technologically superior network is of no use to a miner if mining for it makes less money.
> Or just respectfully stay out of these conversations maybe?
Nope.