But that's simply not the case. The fact is that there is no other review site within the indie community at large whose opinions are held with MORE gravity. Pitchfork are extremely influential and, whether one loves them or hates them, there can be no absolutely understating their chiefly importance in terms of being arbiters of taste in the indie world at all.
I feel that's a large aspect of their appeal. They are simply SO partisan, SO dogged, SO elitist, SO cooler-and-indier-than-thou, that people began to feel the urge to be as "cool" as them and proceeded to fanatically cling to every opinion they ever put out. On the flipside, it is that exact same reason why they're so hated, AND why the people that hate them which such venom still check up on their latest review scores religiously - if for no other reason than to add additional fuel to their loathing.
Pitchfork is an instance of modern internet marketing at its very cleverest and finest. Spark controversy, fuel outrage, and you're bound to get attention.
I also think that a large nuraber of indie sites on the web probably owe their very existence to Pitchfork.
Positive or otherwise, its impact on the alternative music world from an internet fan perspective is virtually unparalleled...imho.