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Pablo_Stafforini comments on Unpopular ideas attract poor advocates: Be charitable - Less Wrong
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Your analysis has implications not only for individuals exposed to unpopular ideas, but also for movements promoting such ideas. These movements (e.g., effective altruism) should be particularly worried about their ideas being represented inadequately by its most radical, disagreeable or crazy members, and should spend their resources accordingly (e.g. by prioritizing outreach activities, favoring more mainstream leaders, handling media requests strategically, etc.).
Reminds me of my youth, when I was a big fan of Esperanto. There was one mentally not-completely-balanced man in our country who was totally obsessed about this great idea, and kept sending letters to all media, over and over again. Of course he achieved nothing; his letters didn't even make sense. The only real effect was that when we tried to promote something we did in the media, most people after hearing the word immediately remembered this guy and refused to even talk with us.
So yeah, a stupid ally is sometimes worse than an enemy.
As an example, MIRI seems to have effectively taken this route.