If so, I sort of feel MassDrop is either failing to understand their audience, or their audience is changing from one that prefers high-quality custom goods (even if at a bit of a premium) to one that prefers a custom product at the lowest possible price regardless of quality.
Massdrop still has some nice custom high quality drops. The minivan kit comes to mind, as well as the various ergodox variations and most keycap set drops. The issue is that they're getting diluted with drops that are neither custom nor high quality. Or that are just another distribution outlet for a major product.
A large part of the issue is the community of the site. As with many things that start with a small, mature community and suddenly grow to include large parts of the internet, they just don't understand what the site is. This is abundantly clear when you look at the polls section.
High end gaming mice, for example. Top of that poll are two of the best selling gaming mice out there, the G502 and the deathadder chroma. They're acting like two giant, well known brands would magically offer a discount so that a tiny distributor could sell some units. I would bet good money that if they do a 'drop' for the G502, it'll be $60 after shipping, which is the same 'deal' that most retailers carry it at. And to top it off, this is a 'featured' poll. This issue is being actively exacerbated by Massdrop staff doing **** like 'featuring' that poll, because it gets the ADD juices of the fleeting customer base of the site flowing.
Other examples, as I scroll down the page of active drops; the MSI 1070 'armor' is $415 lowest on massdrop after shipping, $412 on Amazon. MSI 1080 Seahawk is $745 massdrop, $749 Amazon. ATH-M50x is $120 massdrop, $125 other sellers, but regularly goes on sale for $100 from various retailers. 10,000 mah portable phone battery, $27 massdrop, $15-30 depending on brand on Amazon.
And don't get me started on the audio and novelty items, which are often a complete rip off. Luckily, these issues haven't affected the keyboard community as much. The only way that it's sort of slipping in is that aluminum cases (which arguably got mass appeal and exposure because of massdrop) are now available through so many other vendors that it's not as special on massdrop. Kind of also happening for keycaps. But the other communities are being hit hard, it's painful to scroll through 'all drops' anymore.
Also, any drop under 15 units isn't really a group buy when it's not a completely custom, hand made item exclusive to massdrop, that's only on massdrop so the producer can have a stable production line. 4 units of a Cannon camera? That's not a drop, that's just advertising.
Massdrop has stopped being a way for small scale custom producers to get a stable group buy, and become a cash grab/advertising platform. It's not really Massdrop's fault, they need to make money somehow, but they can't pretend they're a chic custom site like they used to be.
