OH yeah, and although that isn’t necessarily wrong is it annoying and not helpful.
Classic threadshit, IMHO.
We always get that quote wrong.
Don't forget: The plural of anecdote is data.
You may have heard the phrase the plural of anecdote is not data. It turns out that this is a misquote. The original aphorism, by the political scientist Ray Wolfinger, was just the opposite: The plural of anecdote is data.
Wolfinger’s formulation makes sense: Data does not have a virgin birth. It comes to us from somewhere. Someone set up a procedure to collect and record it. Sometimes this person is a scientist, but she also could be a journalist.
Of course some anecdotes are worthless data, but you give a good example. That may not be the best hill for grammaticists to die upon.