I have the impression though that at least on this ride, the actions of any particular individual or group did not cause any poor souls being abandoned to be riding all alone and solo.
I guess I’m in the camp of thinking no harm no foul. If some individual or group eventually rides off the front, so be it. Yes, they could have opted to not join the ride in the first place, but I don’t see how that’s better for anyone, seeing as everybody should know anyway that there’s a yellow beacon that they should attempt to stay with if they want to stay in the blob. IOW, one should ignore anyone other than the yellow beacon if they want to blob throughout the ride.
Likewise, though you don’t typically see anyone refer to them negatively, there are those who join a stretch category ride to get a workout – hanging on for the first 20-30 minutes and then dropping back. Curiously, I don’t think there’s a term for these opposites to the ‘flyers’ out there.
If group ride paces are going to be advertised in w/kg, the ride leader’s weight needs to be displayed otherwise it’s meaningless. It usually works out ok, but there are always edge cases. I once joined a 1.8-2.0 w/kg ride on a route with rolling hills. The ride leader was a very light woman (something like 45-50 kg)… so for me it was soft pedaling sub-recovery pace on the flats and Z3 bursts on the climbs. Very different from the low Z2 ride I was expecting.
I can understand why ride leaders want to keep the group together, but if it’s that big of a deal to them, they should just use the zappy fence.
In real world rides a group ride begins with a group of riders who want to ride the same route. Some go faster, which means others go slower. No big deal. At the end of the ride the whole group goes for a beer. Then there’s a meetup ride where two, three, four or so rendezvous to ride together. These riders tend to ride at least within sight of one another, and rarely is a single rider left behind. When done they go for beer. Along the way nobody’s talking about kicking anyone from the group because they ride faster, or slower. The OP describes why lately I choose to ride with groups following a pacer. I get the benefit of riding with others, but without the constant banter about a fence, or pace, or the chatter among clicky members who appear to have been friends since childhood. For those who feel like faster paced riders deserve to be zapped because it’s supposed to be a “group” (= riders can’t ride too far out front but can fall behind as far as they want) please think that through a little more. At the end of the day, I recommend trying groups. If you don’t like how riders behave leave the ride. There’s plenty other groups. Alternatively, pick up a casual ride with the constant pace riders. You get to ride with other riders at whatever pace you want, without the nonsensical banter and clickyness.
That whole drop multiplier thing is laughable in my view. I’m snickering as I write this message. I mean, really! Who rides with a pacer to get more drops!? What ya gonna do with them? Not much. Anyone who spends much time on Zwift had a zillion of these things already.
No leader takes that approach. A leader has volunteered to ride a certain route at a certain pace range for whoever wants to ride with them. That’s it. They should encourage riders. A yellow beacon that discourages riders is no leader.
Maybe pay drops to enter group rides and races, particularly races. IRL you have to pay to enter races - the big group rides could cost more, like the bigger events IRL. Or you could just start a new account like others do and enjoy the experience of earning things again.
What I dislike is those who appoint themselves the police of the chat function and grumble at others who are having friendly discussions. There is a function to turn off chat instead of being grumpy towards others.
I appreciate the friendly discussion, it makes the time go faster rather than riding in the library like atmosphere where the moment someone makes a noise someone is onto them in a cranky manner or reaching for the report button. I might not always reply, but sometimes the chat is funny.
If I’m not interested, I just focus on what I’m doing.
What better gear? It makes about as much difference as switching jerseys. The lack of meaningful differences shows how little thought was put into Zwift’s game design.
It is less than 2%. The quality of the sleep you got the night before will have a larger effect.
As soon as you do one of the cheap upgrades, which you can get within a few weeks of Zwifting, you are done. After that the differences are negligible. You are talking about a 0.1% difference between an EVO (Level 9/213K drops) and an Aethos (Level 34/923K drops).
Give it a go and report back how the difference is if it’s nothing much at all.
I can afford the Aethos no problem because I have been using Zwift for a long time. What else to do with the drops, pay Zwift to pave a new road to ADZ?
Even if the differences are small (and I’ve both won and lost races by fractions of a second), your point that the differences are small isn’t relevant.
You asked: who is riding with pace partners for drops?
I answered: low level riders wanting to upgrade gear. (this is true)
Your opinion of the worth of the gear in the game has zero bearing on whether or not people a) try to get it, b) value it more than you do, and c) try to accrue drops to get it.
(Analagous argument:
Q: Who waits up on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus? Nobody does this!
A: Young children do this (true)
That Santa doesn’t exist does not mean children don’t wait up for him.
That (you think) the gear isn’t worth much doesn’t mean people don’t try to get it (including via faster drop accrual).)
IRL you have to pay to enter races - the big group rides could cost more, like the bigger events IRL. 
Not everyone has been riding Zwift for years.
