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It does help more than you think, being in a bundle is a big chunk of revenue for a smaller developer. While the sales do dwindle really fast after the launch, the long tail is still significant.

$5 is still $5 if you buy a game after the fact. I don't see how joining early purchasers helps game developers more than otherwise.

If games sell well early into their release, the devs would be elated and motivated. Also they would get more money at the time they are hoping to get it.

The vast majority of the games in the humble bundles would never get any money from me. It's some or nothing, and I assume they would prefer "some".

Here is some hard evidence to the contrary:

http://hitboxteam.com/content/articles/dustforce-sales-figur...

http://hitboxteam.com/dustforce-sales-figures

This isn't an exception, either. This is the norm.