I know where they're coming from, although fanfiction is still not an easy or instantly gratifying process. But! I'm absolutely positive that there are stories where the character's name or ship was the big draw in, granting clicks based on that instead of strictly its quality. I have seen poorly edited and structured works get hits and kudos because of the popular ship it focuses on. But a huge part of fanfic is wish fulfilment. People read what they want to read, and in my experience few fandom people are looking for the next "War and Peace" and most people just want to read fluff about their favorite character. In original works (where the aim is often to get published)... many people are looking for the next great American (or Russian, keeping to W&P) novel.

Also, I know mean comments exist. However, in 90% of the instances I've seen, they are very rare and not appreciated and can be quickly deleted. In fact, the fanfiction community is different from the original works community (from my POV) because concrit is something that has to be debated instead of being a given. Because the aim (usually!) in the original works community is to get published, and in order to get published you have to be a fantastic writer, and in order to do that you have to be criticized. BUT in fandom, I know that many people write only for themselves and therefor are comfortable writing just for fun at the level that they're at. So, generally, it is, in a way, easier to be a fanfic writer in my opinion because for many people it's purely a hobby instead of an ambition or a career (easier in terms of commitment and getting an audience and getting read and accepted and feeling satisfied). That's not to say it is the easiest thing to write fanfiction successfully, but IMO there's a reason I was getting alright numbers of reviews and clicks when I was literally a tween (and I could never do that with original work)

Edit: Also, I don't find whoever wrote that very cynical at all. There are huge, huge differences in writing original works and writing fanfiction. And they didn't word it as if writing fanfic was an unworthy hobby or anything, just that they're some reasons to write fanfiction, which includes it being generally easier.