I must be out of touch or too old or both, but what compels these individuals to fall in line? Why can't they tell their critics to buzz off? Some possibilities I can imagine:

- The identities are real, so there is danger of external real-life impact (harassment of friends/family, job loss, etc)

- Craving for approval - might get ostracized by the community

- Internal impact - might e.g. lose business from the community if it's some kind of store