[rrherr]

So your concern isn't just with anecdotes, but with observational data in general?

I agree that experimental data is preferred, but sometimes observational data is all we've got, right?

[dkersten]

Sure and it can be a good reason to go "oh, that was interesting! Let's study it!"

It is not, however, good enough to treat as fact or make any general inferences from because it's not very strong evidence.