This I agree with. The picture painted in the OP is certainly missing something - some detail. But it's Nintendo's bed to sleep in.
The best way to illustrate this is to simply show the general consensus about the 3DS on neoGAF - we've had several topics of the type like 'will 3DS be the best gaming platform ever by the end of its life' and applauding Nintendo's aggressive approach to the system.
neoGAF is not a hive mind of course, but a average consensus may form... and it usually simply follows the flow of news as it happens. Nintendo's current status of Wii U cannot be described as anything except "abysmal", so more than a minority will be dour about its prospects. 3DS, on the other hand, started out rough - and neoGAF reflected that to a degree - and then turned it around with careful strategics (price cut, ambassador, game release list), a move neoGAF also had a generally positive response to on average.
I'm critical of Nintendo's handling of the launch. They didn't have the tools ready for developers, which I think is the biggest and most notable failure. They didn't advertise the system correctly, and they didn't have the system software in a state of acceptable performance. But in terms of this particular thread, I think it's an overreaction.
Well it's important to not view a particular thread in a window. If a topic feeds a specific narrative that has been growing as a result of a companies actions, naturally it may appear more negative than the news by itself may warrant. But of course, news like this does not exist in a vacuum... it is piling on top of what appears to be quite nearly non-stop negative Wii U news. And as neoGAF is the preeminent gaming forum on the internet, it makes sense that the buzz around the platform would side with harsh.
As an aside: you shouldn't take these things personal, even if it may seem unfair. These are just videogame platforms and people are passionate about things they love.
You guys are disingenuous. A good number of the threads being posted about Nintendo are sheer editorial, riding atop a narrative that has reached weird hyperbolic proportions at this point. Not because Nintendo did a bang up job launching the Wii or anything (I think it's pretty commonly accepted they dropped the ball on multiple fronts), but because there's there's a cast of like a half dozen GAF characters who routinely give their same "matter-of-fact" interpretation of why Nintendo is totally fucked and nothing they could possibly save them now, short of emulating their competition's strategies. Not to mention "Please understand", which is possibly the stupidest most overused GAF meme in the first half of this year. I'm sort of amazed it's not bannable yet, seeing as how it's become pure spam and contributes about as much to a running dialogue as "First post!"
Not only aren't we disingenuous, but this post of yours suggests only that this may be true of yourself. There are hundreds of neoGAF posters - even many who love Nintendo - who are echo chambering a specific outlook about the Nintendo Wii U.
Now, the next question you must ask yourself is "why is this the case?"
Is there something that we are exaggerating for effect? Is there a way to quantify this? Well, yes there is.
Just in the past few months ->
Frostbite Technical Director on Why Frostbite never came to Wii U
Nintendo's comically awful virtual console Wii U release list
Wii U hacked (this is bad or good depending on which side you're on)
Madden 25 not coming to Wii U (one of the biggest franchises on Earth)
Battlefield 4 Skipping Wii U
Problems with Wii U OS/firmware updates
Iwata discussing what is wrong with the Wii U including 'game delays, understaffing, etc'
A topic discussing the completely empty Japanese Wii U release schedule
A topic where Nintendo themselves discusses Wii U's complete lack of momentum and other problems
Deep Silver: No Wii U titles from us (Saints Row/Dead Island/etc)
CNet: Nintendo's Big Problem
The Wii U won't be getting Unreal Engine 4
Here is a thread showing video evidence of the inhumanely atrocious Wii U OS and its loading speeds (this is finally being worked on, thankfully though)
February 2013 NPD
January 2013 NPD
March 2013 NPD
The list can literally go on and on, with developers expressing dismay at the development environment and Nintendo's help, with the system sales being literally unprecedentedly bad for a major console release - even on par or worse than fuckin' Vita, on the wideworld level.
There is no moratorium on negative news, contrary to crybaby belief. Negative conversation is allowed in equal order as positive, because that's the only possible nature of a conversation that is fair. The only reason why it seems so irritatingly loud to you is because
Nintendo put themselves in this position. They have cocked up the Wii U release so horrendously that there is virtually nothing else to discuss when the topic of its current status comes up other than how bad it is.
Would you like to make an alternative argument? Perhaps drop how Wii U is
not in exactly the position a majority on neoGAF (and the world) think it is? Or do you just want to kick and grit your teeth at some perceived threat, even though the words being expressed seem be a 100% valid opinion with hard facts on its side?
And no, it's not really comparable to reactions to MS rumors. The rumors over Durango have mostly been just that- rumors. Secondly, people have a very particular love/hate relationship with Nintendo, probably because they've had such a long standing and pervasive influence on the industry, and had multiple generations that challenged people's expectations. That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't really make the carnival of stupid surrounding Nintendo threads these days any less obnoxious. The only remotely comparable example I can think of was when the PS3 stumbled a bit out of the gate after Sony rode high for 2 generations.
There is always a carnival of stupid that follows every gaming topic, because there will always be fanboys - which I am not entirely sure you are in a position to be casting stones in that case - and yet... the general extremely negative outlook on Wii U is simply the accurate representation of where the industry is at at the moment.
So, I say again: Blame Nintendo.