A cult, no. Cult like in some respects, yes.
I say that not because of any particular belief pushed on here. But for someone new with different opinions, you stick a sacred cow and suddenly one hears a certain line of rebuttal. It often comes hard, fast and from many places. Suspect most FNG that receive it feel a bit attacked, and often respond as such.
It's generally from an acolyte (s), not the originator of said opinion, initially. FNG responds, feels attacked, more pile on, OP may chime in, and FNG often says I’m out. Ya, that’s cult like. I’ve watched it many times. And no, I'm not going to point anyone to examples or show pictures, lol, refer to the 2nd sentence of the 2nd paragraph.
Is it a problem, not really. It‘s simply the culture here. Every forum I’ve seen has a culture with characters to match. Can it give someone not engaged in the forum/conversation the feeling it's a cult, yeppers. Would it be better to have more holding of hands, campfire songs, rainbows and unicorns, when these topics surface with a FNG, probably. But then I'd have to throw up or find another forum.
Need an edit. I forgot to respond to the Fishnet Form Leader query. I’d say nope. Don’t know the man, but he has answered every question I’ve ever asked him, and they have held up. I suspect the last thing he’d want to be is a leader trying to herd a bunch of armed cats running all around. Just a guess. As in all things, often wrong, never in doubt.