Do small startups still have a chance, or do people just pretend to like them?

Do small startups still have a chance, or do people just talk positively about them while continuing to use sites like facebook and linkedin and expecting perfect polish? For example, I started www.nextcept.com a few months ago as a venture network. I'm focusing on a unique method for co-founder discovery, and users seem pretty pumped, but if I post in various startup communities I get told I'm spamming them even when I'm just asking to for thoughts or wanting to talk about my project.