The truth about airdrop projects is that not all of them will disappoint their participants; there will always be some airdrops projects that will surprise their participants, though it happens only once in a while. For example, we saw how NotCoin surprised their participants. But the truth is, you should never rely on airdrops. Treat them as a side hustle and never expect much from them.
Yeah, expectations shouldn't be too high nevertheless.
Airdrops can't be the main source of income without shilling base / account farms, etc.
Only some of these projects, as you said, would grant their communities what they expected.