I think you are spot on with the fear of being shunned by the community if voting "no-go". Several people were giving heads up notices of this king in the Telegram group before the call started.
It certainly helped to boot up the network sooner. On the other hand, we also need smooth operation and upgrades which some of the less prepared BPCs might not be able to deliver in a long run.
Overall, I feel this kind of community pressure is going to help. We have finally started. If (when) things go wrong the underperforming BPs can be outvoted and replaced with new ones.
And while I haven't done an in-depth research on all of the BPCs I do have some favorites naturally as I was watching them for some time now.
David Moss (even though he can't be elected) – showed some natural leadership, keeping the community focused and effective which I think is very important for the future
EOS Canada – same reasons as you've already mentioned above, they look very enthusiastic about the whole thing too
Cypherglass – also helpful and active in the previous stages, very good on YouTube but very young too
EOS Authority – excellent job with the registration checking tools and informing the community long time before the snapshot. Sharing valuable info which I can't find elsewhere and showing constant dedication which I think a scammer simply won't bother with. I believe their intentions are good, don't know about tech. capabilities though.
Bitfinex – well, it's an exchange. If they don't want to play with the network then there's none.
RE: EOS mainnet launching – EMLG votes GO