The proposal suggested using otherwise-ignored messages to set up optional features in the version handshake. Peers that do not support this feature would ignore these messages, much like how they would handle unsupported messages as stated in BIP 152's handshake. However, some members of the community argued that this approach was not backward compatible and could open up new attack vectors. They also pointed out that all adopted BIPs to date have sent optional control messages only if the peer is at the expected version. The discussion highlighted the importance of maintaining existing protocol behavior and soliciting community feedback before implementing changes that could break fundamental aspects of the P2P protocol handshake.