This specific thread was merely talking about the look and feel of the city. If you look at some of my other comments regarding crime, you'll see I very much agree with you.
The quintessential feel of SF, cherry-picked to be outside of known bad areas, is the sound that is produced when, on a quiet street of Inner Richmond at 1am, nearly weekly, people (I use the term loosely) too incompetent to hold a rectangular object drop a recycling bin upon themselves as they steal recycling, and swear profusely.