However, in my experience core community members will read things like this CoC, at least partially. They also be fairly involved with discussions about it, which go a long way to shape a community.
That may well be the case.
But in any online community, eventually some people are going to get banned. And many people - even those who aren't getting banned - prefer it if the banning is conducted according so some sort of written document, even if they've never read that document in detail themselves.
Other online communities with far more lightweight rules are also available, for people who prefer that :)
I prefer the new CoC. Lists of rules are never something that someone will regularly reference. You'll read through it once, get an understanding of the ground rules and community expectations, and then fit into the community and get up to speed by experience. Sometimes, people make mistakes, and someone can say "hey, maybe don't do that, Code of Conduct has a bit about that", and that someone can go "ah crud, thanks".
I respect that the developer went to great lengths to outline their expectations in such clear detail. It sounds like a cool community to me.