I think Game Dev has always had some kind of gatekeeping going on. Even in the GameMaker forums we have particular people who are known for NOT pulling their punches when speaking to new devs, although it's usually always specifically regarding programming questions haha.
The reality is, that wherever you go, you're going to mingle with a variety of people and the ones that might appear hostile to you might be that way for a wide variety of reasons (and they might not even think they're being hostile sometimes).
Just ignore it if possible - there are plenty of new and old devs who are welcoming.