Yes,the CF must be babied or the bike will suddenly catch fire and explode. Lots of full carbon MTB's and cross bikes getting banged around without disintegrating. I've had/have numerous bikes with carbon forks and zero issues. Note:most non-racing CF forks have metal steerer tubes and fork ends.

Both steel and CF are good materials for forks due to their ability to absorb road vibrations. Alloy forks are very common because they're cheaper and lighter than steel. Returned a Road Buzz(perfect name) to REI because the pinpoint alloy fork aggravated my carpel tunnel even with 42mm tires. Swapped the alloy fork on my old Absolute for a carbon cross fork and it made a world or difference. My Dew Deluxe and Dr Good both have P2 forks;the Dew's is steel,the Dr's is alloy. The Dr rides ok with 37mm tires,and Dew rides better with 32's.

Also note that the design of the fork makes a difference. The alloy pinpoint on the Road Buzz was horrible,the curved alloy on my old Big Buzz wasn't too bad. The beefy curved fork on my Pt Reyes is pretty good;this and my old Swobo Otis are the only alloy forked bikes I've ever owned that I could stand to commute on for an entire week.