I would point you to my response on a similar question here:
The tldr; we are planning on making some adjustments to our rules around projects that ask for money with the release of the main site, and I am actively working on adding features to the main site that will make it easier for us to know what projects are asking for donations/money and make it easier for users to see if they are being actively worked on.
Unfortunately, for right now its very buyer beware. If you see any projects you believe are actual scams I do encourage you to flag them and we will review them asap.
If you feel the project has just been abandoned or updates are to slow/sparse its ok to say so on the thread, you just need to be careful about how you say it. If you voice your concern along the lines of something like this: The games last update was about 6 months ago and I dont think they update frequently enough to warrant giving them money atm so I would be careful about joining their patreon that would be ok 9 times out of 10.
The two main keys to keep in mind when making a reply like that is:
- Dont state that the project has been abandoned. I see quite a few users make some good points but then declare the project as abandoned or dead which then makes their response against our rules. Its ok to complain about infrequent or long updates, but you need to keep any direct statements about the dev abandoning the game out of it unless it has been directly stated by the dev that are dropping the project (which in that case link the source if you can to make it easier on us to verify).
- Be respectful and civil. When money is involved people can get understandably heated, but I have seen that torpedo some replies with good points in them just because the user let their emotions get the better of them. Try to be as respectful and even tempered as possible, and avoid attacking the dev (like calling them a scammer. If you think they are one just report them directly to us) and you should be fine.