I second this partially:
or they really have been working hard on it and he just can't handle criticism and took it as a personal attack.
[IMHO]
As a longer time backer, i'd rather say: they are working their asses off and have made right decisions at the right time, much to the loss of their backers.
The old engine was simply not capable for the plans they have for and with the game. That decision delayed the next playable version for another year and a half. According to an IC-post the next version will be out in the next few months. And according to Ubercharge it will be sooner than 5 months. So maybe the guys who can't see behind the paywall can wait this period of time without killing the motivation of that team.
I personally hope, that they don't listen to the people trying to spread cancer between them.
And the money paid to them is at the right amount, that they can speed up development now. I believe in the things, Eromancer tells you about the costs. I once did edit a vehicle in Blender for a video game, which I initially bought for 300$. Now imagine, how many models/software/hardware they bought and will buy in the development process. And how much money the rest of the team gets from the ~8000 $ income per month.
Development is a very costly experience and I personally don't think, they are doing a scam with that money at this time.
[/IMHO]
Edit: But I also think that the PR-thingy has started on the wrong foot. I believe in more public information, even if that means that I get less actual insider infos