No, it's not. The parent is reporting a personal experience. Just like you.
Back in 2009 when I switched to Arch, one of the reasons why I switched was because dist-upgrade frequently blew up on me and I didn't know how to fix it.
Maybe it was user error. Maybe I didn't know what I was doing. Maybe Arch just empowered me to understand my system better. I don't really know what the reason is, but nevertheless, the experience isn't bullshit. It really happens.