First of all, great you found your way here.
Yes, you get better and faster support from developers. That was the main purpose. If the named developers aren’t reacting fast enough, they get a kick in their bud from either @Marten, or preferable me (yes, I am one of the admins here, like all other developers).
Secondly, it became a home for the abandoned from the original forum (like @steveb or @Webdeersign) or the ones who would like to be abandoned (@paul.russam).
All opinions are allowed, as long as you aren’t attacking other users.
Coming to your main question: Why have people been abandoned from the original forum? Because they say their opinion openly. And most of the times, they state the truth, which isn’t welcome by everyone.
No.
Do the members of this forum want that: No.
Are we allowed to speak openly about recent quality issues of RW, other apps or trends in web development (which might lead RW going down in flames): Yes.
Just have a look in the latest top threads of the original forum, they are all about the messed up 8.1.x RW version and people having problems with it.
Best, Jannis