Yes, it is. It's fairly disgusting. They have two ways of going about business. On SA, they get a poster to create a huge thread about a game, complete with all details and pictures, generate discussion, links, all info, etc. I really don't mind those because it usually has a lot of good information about an upcoming title.
The bad part are the "campaigners". The hired folks to shout down negativity and rile everyone up. Their main goal is to distract, embarrass, call someone a troll, but usually everything they post about is 10,000 foot high level fluff that usually points to something other than game play. Like pointing out a previous game someone was in charge of and saying it is going to be right up their alley. Talking about features like they haven't been done about 50 times before. A lot of the good games will stand out because they generate their own hype and do not need a company such as this. TESO and their third party grass roots team is in full swing at the moment. And unfortunately, that company has a bullseye target for this forum right now.
It was even worse when it was FOH. But as this forum gains popularity, it will get worse. And real discussion will never be had. Throw in a convenient "I need to hide behind an NDA", which only exists to create a cloud cover to sell boxes when they know their product is shit and their main goal is to recoup box sales, and you have this game.
Amazon review sections are most notable for this right now. For instance, Disney Infinity. Bad reviews are shouted down in the comments section usually by the same people labled as having received the product for free (You have to look really hard at the fine print next to their handle) and are usually soccer moms working from home.