Hey redant, and welcome. Also a big fan of the Yak: underrated, but hardly a UFO!
No, that's not generally the way flight-capable newbies are treated, although I have noticed an increase (since I've been playing) in the impatience directed toward rank newbies who come on with questions like "How do I take off"--and maybe that's fair enough, although I think there are nicer ways of letting people down.
Frankly, I have no idea whether or not I've been criticized for what I fly, but I'm guessing probably so. From very early on I've been squelching channel 1 because the trash talk bores me. I need to know what my side is doing, and what my squaddies are doing--don't really give a toss about what my few victims or the many people who shoot me down have to say about the state of the universe.
That said, even your own side can get a bit much at times, and you may come to wish for the idea suggested in another thread, the .squelch littlenapoleons option!
Just fly, enjoy, it's a great community with the anal-retentives relatively few and far between.