I think this depends on the demographic and context more than anything. Sometimes a start-up will be posted to HN and it feels like everyone in the comments section has "drank the kool-aid" and othertimes it seems the exact opposite possibly being too critical (though I feel like a healthy mix is the usual around here). As far as HN is concerned I don't think there is a general "you can't hate on start-ups" mentality but there are times when things can be click-y on any conversational site.

Now news sources like TechCrunch? Good luck. If a start-up is on the rise they'll publish whatever gives them more clicks. When a start-up is on the decline they'll still publish whatever gives them more clicks. If that means "not admitting they're wrong" then that's just how it'll be.

As for Peach I downloaded it to try it. I didn't "get it". Thought it was terrible because I couldn't share or do anything without finding people first. So I uninstalled. I don't have time to cultivate friends on yet another social network; it needs to essentially be done for me. Which yeah sounds super lazy but I don't think it's off the mark either.