Thing is though, as I've said with a few of my comments now, David explicitly states in these diaries the enormous work a lot of the features are going to entail (starting back then 4 years ago), and he says they're going to take a long time. It just amazes me that people think he was lying when in reality 4 years for a game of this scope isn't all that long (look at Cyberpunk 2077 six years in development and it's in Alpha with years away from release as said by the devs this year. Also Star Citizen. Infinity Battlescape, and many more).
Yep, he also says repeatedly things like "we plan, we would like, we intend". The complaints about it are generally based on half a sentence taken out of context with certain very obvious proviso's (plus the timeline as you've pointed out) completely ignored and a seeming total inability to comprehend that plans can change. The complaints never stand up to even basic scrutiny.
He didn't fool anyone they either fooled themselves, or are simply lying.