Popularity seems to be the only metric for truth nowadays. There is very little scientific method or intellectual debate anymore. There are mostly polls, ratios, peer pressure and appeals to authority. What little debate is left often lacks good faith.
I mostly stopped engaging in debates, especially with people I don't know. I would rather be perceived as insensitive by leaving someone hanging than to waste time constructing arguments that will be shat on, or worse, be met with aggression.
