This is a very important point.
Anecdotes will only take you so far, that much is clear, if we compare impressions alone the discrepancies should be a big warning sign that something is off.
But selection/sampling bias is also something to watch out for. You might find someone playing a god tier match on YT and think to yourself that you’re a Neanderthal in comparison, but then look at their stats and see they’re just like you: they have good games and bad games.
Not to say that exceptional players don’t exist of course, they absolutely do. Just that you should always keep bias in mind. I make videos out of my best matches because I want to remember them, and I’m quite proud of some of them, but I certainly don’t make videos of the matches where I get my ass kicked and lose badly, and yet they exist.
And their opinions are subjective too. When I was first spading the German TT I heard so many “the Jagdtiger is absolutely terrible” takes from more experienced players that I only half heartedly spaded it at the time. Then, I played it some more, started liking it, and it’s now my favourite vehicle in the game.
The way people generalise, judge each other, and actively try to “own” their fellow WT players is quite perplexing to me.