Stranger Things: Conformity Gate?

By now, you've likely heard of conformity gate if you are on the internet, and if you haven't I'll briefly explain it.

Spoilers for Season 5 afoot

Conformity Gate is the theory that in the end, Vecna won. Instead of what actually happened in the last episodes being real, it took place in Henry's mind, just like how the children were in his mind. The reason it gained so much traction is the abundance of proof, such as the color of various objects changing (similar to how the merry go round changed color when it was viewed inside Henry's memory/mind), various things said by characters - like when Will said he loved getting lost in the woods with his friends growing up - excuse me? That was likely the most traumatic thing he has ever gone through, why is that a fond and likable memory for him?

Or when Will says he loved getting milkshakes at Melvald's - a convenience store his mother, Joyce, worked at. They do not serve milkshakes there. However - when Henry was a child, it was

a dinner and they did serve milkshakes.

This is just the tip on the iceberg. There is more but I don't want this post to be a mile long. I personally did believe in conformity gate. I think I still choose to believe it is real, even if it is just head cannon. Why? The alternative is to realize and agree that there are so many continuity issues and none of the hundreds of people working on set and in the writers room's noticed or cared at all.

Is it real, though? No. After genuinely believing it to be real, I have come to the realization - with help from the documentary - that it was in fact not written well. The fact that they were still writing the SERIES FINALE while already filming it is insane to me! There were 3 years in between the 4th and 5th season, did they decide to not write anything until they absolutely had to?

This all leads to a larger conversation: Are the Stranger Things novels, canon?

In short: Yes. The long answer is that they are second tier canon. (For a breakdown on media tie-in novels being canon, check out this post) The Broadway show was announced as canon, however things in season 5 contradicted the show therefore is it still canon? This is why I refer to the TV Show as canon, and everything else as second tier canon.