Majority of the time yes but GAF's dark side really shows up in certain thread topics and man, it isn't pretty. Topics like Xbox as of late, Mass Effect, Ubisoft, threads about exclusives and of course review threads.
Thankfully this thread has remained terrific even though we haven't had much to talk about since PSX.
It definitely gets ugly at times and that's usually when I bail out of those threads but I think that while some of them are baseless (see: review threads and the reaction to Jim Sterling's Zelda review), a lot of the time there's a reason behind all the vitriol.
Those Xbox threads are usually created by actual Xbox fans, like Montresor, who are disappointed with the direction Microsoft has gone. Mass Effect Andromeda is the worst reviewed game in Bioware's history (yes, even worse than their Sonic RPG). Hello Games over-hyped and under-delivered. And so on, I could even understand why some would be sceptical of Horizon.
The problem is the internet is a stupid place where everyone has a hot take, hyperbole rules the day, people get joy out of shitposting and no-one considers that people like Molyneux or Murray are actual people. I do feel like it's gotten a bit worse over the last few months though, possibly because bish hung up his ban button.
But having said that, GAF's still a hell of a lot better than 99.9% of the gaming communities on the web.
Personally, I like Shinobi and I know he's a huge Mass Effect fan but it did look dodgy at times the way he was constantly trying to hype it up while clearly having contact with the developers. It's not a good look, especially when the game turned out poorly.