DCX “Drama”:
I’d originally included this in my review for DCX Cyber, but realized it was a little too off-topic and gave the section its own little post. For a little context about DCX and myself; I was among those most vocally critical towards Drop’s handling of this profile’s originally-intended name, MT2. In the intervening time a few things have changed, and I wanted to talk about that for posterity.
I fully believe no one meant an ounce of harm here, but this was deffo an “oops”. Image from Drop’s profile announcement.
I won’t be getting into the weeds of exactly what Drop staff did and didn’t say to catch ire, as I think everyone is better-served that way; this is about context. I centered my criticism first around the dissonance between using a name inherently derived from a popular creator’s handle (Matt3o, most recently known for creating MT3) while in no way involving that creator. Drop’s response was perhaps unfortunate if well-intended; said creator had more or less the same reaction to that response I did, expressed disappointment, and peaced-out.
And thus, I yote to lands unknown.
Before I did, however, I went out of my way to highlight that while the name choice was perhaps ill-informed or poorly considered, that it was never actually the problem despite all the drama appearing to center around it. The only real issue was poor (or sometimes hollow) communication with both creators and customers, which had been an issue with Drop for a long time – basically since the beginning. When confronted with some decisions that customers didn’t like, Drop (at the time) elected to side-step and not address some material points. The instigating thing (the name) was actually a no-big-deal-at-all sort of thing – but how they handled it was a problem.
I pointed out that their actual products, likely these keys included, tend to be excellent – and that it’s only their communication that has long been lacking. I said that while I am indeed walking away for the time being, that I’ll keep my eye on the space because even at the time, I did see a desire from Drop to take stock and move forward in a productive way. I told them then that if they can be open and communicate better with their customers and creators from there, that they can fully expect to earn back my trust and vocal advocacy.
A screenshot of what I said to Drop before stepping away for a few months.
Well – here we are – so what did Drop do to win back both my and (more notably) Matt3o’s engagement?
IMHO, just about the best things they possibly could have – and reasonably quickly if not instantly, once the extent of the backlash had become clear to the organization as a whole: They listened to their customers and collaborators, took a step back, realized the true issues, and adjusted their approach.
No renders here: these are photographs on the product page. Oh yeah, it dropped in-stock, too.
They started being more detailed and transparent in communications. (Yeah, product descriptions are still fluffy but that’s to be expected – and hey, they’re well written in that fluffiness, at least.) They started communicating more things up-front, and even acknowledging potential pain-points with products and specific plans on how to address them in subsequent versions. Well – at very least not stopping their collaborating creators from doing so on their site. DCX Cyber and its designer MiTo’s post on Drop’s blog section being the critical example:
DCX Cyber was the brace that healed the camel’s back for me in multiple ways. Not only did I specifically want the colorway in a shorter profile, but its rollout and introduction were refreshingly transparent. I genuinely don’t think I could ask for more or faster improvement with what I view as Drop’s biggest issue, so here I am keeping my word and my end of the bargain.
They’ve genuinely earned-back my patronage and my vocal support, so I’m happy to be sharing with you my thoughts of more Drop goodies moving forward.