no one is forcing anything upon you, do what you wish.
people are expressing their opinions about what they feel to be right, as did you.
some may feel that it would be correct for everyone to follow their opinion, some may not, but no one is forcing anything upon you.
you need to be strong in your convictions and not feel threatened by opinions that differ from yours.
when someone becomes incensed and defensive of opinions that are more machmir, it usually indicates that they feel in themselves that maybe the other opinion is actually correct and they are frightened of that thought. i dont mean you, just in general