Meh.
Yes, for already announced limited runs of physical items that you know the quality off (say merch from artists) it’s more fine than for mainly digital goods.
And, I have to agree, such a broad blanket statement is not really applicable to every type of purchase or life situation.

To be fully transparent: Even I participated in pre-orders. Off the top I can only remember some artist merch items like CDs I pre-heard some tracks and know what to expect from it and the Kickstarter for the uGreen NAS. But even for the uGreen NAS I knew the specs, price and if It’s compatible with what I want to do before committing.
For any other purchase I waited patiently.