Some time recently I read a casual paper (on Medium I think) that made the point that deep diving into outliers and understanding them has led to a half dozen Nobel prizes, because they lead to discoveries of phenomena that nobody else had even noticed. See for instinance the Holmdel Horn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmdel_Horn_Antenna
To keep sane, I tend to keep outliers and clip them as last as possible, e.g. by choice of graph axis. This way I have the opportunity to notice otherwise hidden patterns.
In mlab data we sometimes see outliers that suggest "out of bounds" data rates. e.g. a repeated test that clearly has a max rate of 50 Mb/s or something, and then every so often a one test at 200 Mb/s or higher. My assumption is that these are from software managed shapers that occasionally fail to properly load their configurations. (I admit to not having looked hard enough to prove this hypnosis).
Thanks,
--MM--
The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Alan Kay
We must not tolerate intolerance;
however our response must be carefully measured:
too strong would be hypocritical and risks spiraling out of control;
too weak risks being mistaken for tacit approval.