“There is lots of anecdotal material to make informed conclusions”
Anecdotal material informs only what what reported, by only those who reported it, and has nothing in it at all from the people it got no report from at all. It cannot be used to make “informed conclusions” of any general-total demographic category other than the individuals from whom the anecdotal material came. Anecdotal material bears no statistical relationship to any larger population.
At some point, the repeated anecdotes becomes the norm. Don’t pretend it doesn’t.