My understanding is that there are a few different factors: For many of them, there's something to be gained (e.g. financially via a youtube channel, or even j

My understanding is that there are a few different factors: For many of them, there's something to be gained (e.g. financially via a youtube channel, or even just karma points), which keeps engagement from fizzling out There's also the age old cultism phenomenon: people want to be part of something, because it feeds their ego somehow (e.g. "pff, look at those sheep") and/or because of some sense of community ("oh wow, I never thought so many people thought like me") And the thread that unifies everything is the belief they are scientifically correct because they are applying empirical observation. Of course, the unfortunate gap is that they don't truly understand how to use/interpret the tools of the scientific method (e.g. they may not know how to empirically derive physics equations from experiments, or they may not understand concepts like falsibiability, or even account for blind spots in "common sense" such as why are tides a thing, etc)