The article completely misses the medicolegal aspect of do no harm.
Not sure why people would risk safeguarding one of their main senses in name of "There’s Basically No Evidence For This"
Ignorant is, as ignorant does. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Has anyone seen blood leaking out of the ear when the crochet hook was retracted? How about stench of pus and dealing with infection from toothpicks, q-tips, bobby hairpins and other assorted instruments. Doctors and other providers see this more frequently than probably most HN readers.
As a former ex-NP student, I know syringe irrigation works, the patient was profusely 'life altering' thankful with a souvenir chunk of cerumen to prove it.
I really believe it takes real world experience, personal or clinical to provide evidence of outcomes, until then Dr. Google, like talk is cheap.
OR
dismiss clinical experience, keep on with the internet home remedies and support your local EENTs to clean up the mess :-)