That part I put in italics is literally the dumbest thing you can say. If massive corporations spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a project are being forced to eat shit after making such a statement, how do you think that will work out for you or other indy devs? You're not marrying these people. They're not your friends. Your goal should be to make something people enjoy, period. I don't want to get involved in your life, your relationships, anything. I want you to succeed, but I don't want to have to hold your or any other develops hands for you to achieve that success. If some miracle happens and we did become friends, cool, your game would still be separate from that relationship and if you can't take fair criticism from a friend, that's even more of a personal problem.
The line about "posting their promises to commitment for them" I have to assume means that when the dev makes a promise to do something, people are holding them to those promises. And THAT IS HOW IT WORKS. A promise IS a commitment. It is a statement of absolute, even when it is about a non-absolute. So if you promise to try, you are stating you are going to do everything in your power to achieve that goal, even if it is unrealistic. If you promise your update will be done by 11/11/11, you have committed to that release date and short of a natural disaster, nothing should ever prevent that. I work in production, have for over a decade, and only 1 time in all of those years have we been working up to our products release date. And that was due to a faulty packaging machine, where we had to fly all over the country just to check the packaging on every...single...unit.
You're providing a good/service. People are inherently potential customers. There is no division between the two, they are one and the same. If you're a 5yo selling lemonade, your parents are potential customers. It might be a bit weird to selling your dad your porn game, but it is a potentiality... It's cool when devs want to have open discourse with your customers, but you need to understand what that implies though. I know this isn't your game, but it holds true for this dev and his refusal to have discourse as well. People are going to have opinions about your product. Not all are going to be good, not all are going to be mean.
Never say something you can't back up. Patreon and SS protections don't actually protect you from shit if you do. I'll leave it at that.