I think this is a really good observation, and "bonded over" is a good term. At the extremes, people will even recommend the thing and disparage other options w

I think this is a really good observation, and "bonded over" is a good term. At the extremes, people will even recommend the thing and disparage other options when they haven't tried either one themselves. They're just trying to be part of the group. Edit: A couple more real examples off the top of my head: - In some circles, everyone recommends getting a Shure SM7B + a Cloudlifter for recording voice. It's not a terrible option but not really better than many other mics (many of which are higher gain, removing the need for the separate preamp), and even if selecting an SM7B, depending on your audio interface you may not need the Cloudlifter. It's just a preamp, not magic. - On Reddit's /r/NewZealand, everyone loves Whittaker's chocolate and hates Cadbury. Whittaker's is locally owned and honestly is better than Cadbury, but from reading the discourse you'd think Cadbury was completely disgusting. Any sort of moderate opinion (e.g. liking both) is not allowed.