Anecdotes are data. Quite literally. Each is one data point. A data point is not a conclusion. To draw valid conclusions you need a large body of data. But each anecdote is, quite literally, a single data point.

a data point is not a conclusion

the person you replied to said that

since it has to be said, with you, that means nobody here is saying that popular anecdotes prove anything

your entire argument is based on a failure to communicate

Anecdotes are not data.

Even in sociological surveys The surveys ask well crafted questions to avoid anecdotal information.

A grabber sentence is a literary concept that includes a rhetorical generalization used as a pathway into argument.

That part worked, pretty predictably, but it doesn’t seem like you read the argument. Hm.

Grabber for who? People who don't understand science?