When checking if a project is working seriously, I tend to look at how the treasury funds are spent first: if the money is all spent on short-term metrics like "issuing incentives to boost TVL," the milestones will forever stay in PowerPoint presentations;

if the money is spent on audits, infrastructure, developer support, fixing bugs so that no one complains—these dirty, tiring jobs—the progress might be slower but you'll feel more at ease.
Recently, with new L1/L2 incentives launched, old users complaining about "mining, selling, and dumping," I can understand that too.
To put it simply, if treasury spending only buys traffic, users will only see you as an ATM.
Don't just look at slogans for milestones; check if they can deliver on time, if people are using it after delivery, and if there’s a review after problems occur...
Those who can do these things may not necessarily see a rise, but at least they’re not just performing on stage.