Minecraft definitively proved that pirating does not do the kind of harm so many devs claim it does. Here's the deal: people who pirate exclusively and people who pay for games exclusively make up a fairly small part of the population. The rest is full of people who will pay for a game once they know what they're getting. I've backed plenty of games that I've pirated, because I enjoyed what they were doing, and wanted to see the game make it to full release. Realistically, pirates haven't cost you many patrons if any at all. But by taking such a hostile stance, people who might have tried the game and eventually backed it are now driven away because all they see is a dickhead dev. If you put out a great game, and people genuinely enjoyed it, their praise and reviews will get you way more exposure and goodwill.
You are entitled to being pissed off by pirates, but there's a wrong way and a right way to handle it, and you took the "face first into shit slinging" approach. A modicum of professionalism can get you pretty far.